occasion.

"O Stephen," she replied, in her soft voice and speaking in a way so
natural that it freed her words from any boldness, "it is here, for am
I not its child"--her native appellation, it will be remembered, was
"Child of the Flower." "And the fairest of the flowers is here, too, for
I am that Flower which you found in the island of the lake. O Stephen, I
pray you to trouble no more about a lost plant of which you have seed
in plenty, but make thanks that you still live and that through you
my mother and I still live, who, if you had died, would weep our eyes
away."

"Through me," he answered. "You mean through Allan and Hans. Also it was
you who saved my life there in the water. Oh! I remember it all now. You
are right, Hope; although I didn't know it, you are the true Holy Flower
that I saw."

She ran to him and kneeling by his side, gave him her hand, which he
pressed to his pale lips.

Then I sneaked out of that hut and left them to discuss the lost flower
that was found again. It was a pretty scene, and one that to my mind
gave a sort of spiritual meaning to the whole of an otherwise rather
insane quest. He sought an ideal flower, he found--the love of his life.

After this, Stephen recovered rapidly, for such love is the best of
medicines--if it be returned.

I don't know what passed between the pair and Brother John and his wife,
for I never asked. But I noted that from this day forward they began to
treat him as a son. The new relationship between Stephen and Hope seemed
to be tacitly accepted without discussion. Even the natives accepted it,
for old Mavovo asked me when they were going to be married and how many
cows Stephen had promised to pay Brother John for such a beautiful wife.
"It ought to be a large herd," he said, "and of a big breed of cattle."

Sammy, too, alluded to the young lady in conversation with me, as "Mr.
Somers's affianced spouse." Only Hans said nothing. Such a trivial
matter as marrying and giving in marriage did not interest him.
Or, perhaps, he looked upon the affair as a foregone conclusion and
therefore unworthy of comment.

We stayed at Bausi's kraal for a full month longer whilst Stephen
recovered his strength. I grew thoroughly bored with the place and so
did Mavovo and the Zulus, but Brother John and his wife did not seem to
mind. Mrs. Eversley was a passive creature, quite content to take things
as they came and after so long an absence from civilization, to bid