y of
gleaming yellow sumach that jutted out into the noble river, was shorn
of its intense radiance; at times in the thickest woods he seemed
surrounded by a yellow nimbus; at times so luminous was the glow of
these translucent leaves that the position of the sun itself seemed
changed, or the shadows cast in defiance of its glory. As he walked
on, long reaches of the lordly placid stream at his side were visible,
as far as the terraces of the opposite shore, lifted on basaltic
columns, themselves streaked and veined with gold and fire. Paul had
seen nothing like this since his boyhood; for an instant the great
heroics of the Sierran landscape were forgotten in this magnificent
harlequinade.

A dim footpath crossed the road in the direction of the house, which
for the last few moments had been slowly etching itself as a soft
vignette in a tinted aureole of walnut and maple upon the steel blue of
the river. He was hesitating whether to take this short cut or
continue on by the road, when he heard the rustling of quick footsteps
among the fallen leaves of the variegated thicket through which it
stole. He stopped short, the leafy screen shivered and parted, and a
tall graceful figure, like a draped and hidden Columbine, burst through
its painted foliage. It was Yerba!

She ran quickly towards him, with parted lips, shining eyes, and a few
scarlet leaves clinging to the stuff of her worsted dress in a way that
recalled the pink petals of Rosario.

"When I saw you were not in the wagon and knew you were walking I
slipped out to intercept you, as I had something to tell you before you
saw the others. I thought you wouldn't mind." She stopped, and
suddenly hesitated.

What was this new strange shyness that seemed to droop her eyelids, her
proud head, and even the slim hand that had been so impulsively and
frankly outstretched towards him? And he--Paul--what was he doing?
Where was this passionate outburst that had filled his heart for nights
and days? Where this eager tumultuous questioning that his feverish
lips had rehearsed hour by hour? Where this desperate courage that
would sweep the whole world away if it stood between them? Where,
indeed? He was standing only a few feet from her--cold, silent, and
tremulous!

She drew back a step, lifted her head with a quick toss that seemed to
condense the moisture in her shining eyes, and sent what might have
been a glittering dew-drop flying into the loosed tendri