er-sweet, when she heard a voice that thrilled her
very soul. There was just one voice like that in all the world.
Trembling, she bent her head and peeped through the branches. One
swift glance and she knew him--her husband.

A strong self-control prevented her from swooning or crying out in
her great joy. Shaking like a leaf, yet holding firmly to a
tree-trunk, she gazed into the dear face. It was paler and thinner,
there were dark rings under the eyes, but the finely-curved mouth had
the same calm, sweet expression that told of peace within.

How like a king among men he looked, as he stood there, his hands
filled too with mosses and lichens, looking kindly on the boy and
talking interestedly. She never realised her utter folly so keenly as
at this moment. How she longed to fly to him and fall at his feet in
sorrowful confession. Two things kept her back: no eyes must witness
their first meeting, and another dreadful thought--what if it were
too late. What if he had taken her at her word and loved another.

She had not been a woman of the world so long for naught. She was an
adept in hiding her heart far out of sight. When Harry returned she
could calmly ask him, "Whom he had found in that out-of-the-way
place?"

"Why, don't you think!" said Harry, "among all the other precious
things in these woods I've found a minister. Wish we could put him
right on top of our boughs and things, and carry him home too, for
Christmas. Wouldn't mother be glad to see him, though! He preaches
every Sunday in a log church right down hereaways, and the people
come from all round the country to hear him. He looks as if he could
preach, too. Such eyes as he has, that look you through and through.
Say, let's you and me go to hear him next Sunday, will you?"

"Yes, I will!" Vida said, with such fervour and emphasis that Harry
gave her a keen look and wondered why she had a bright red spot in
each cheek. He wondered more before they reached home, for his cousin
laughed and sung in childlike glee, and was sad and silent by turns.
Her restlessness could not wait until the Sabbath. The excitement and
suspense were unendurable.

Confiding in her aunt, it was arranged between them that Moses, the
old coloured man of all work, should accompany her to Cedar Vale the
next afternoon. Just what she would do when she reached there was not
clear to her, but stay away she could not.

When the children were well off to school again after the noonin