n, passing gradually to brighter sun
and deeper blue. Yet still Dick did not come.

Stephanie knew that, once having run wild as it were, he would not
return until he had drunk his fill of freedom. That he would return
eventually, she firmly believed, drawn back by his affection for her.
And as the weeks went on, she set herself to wait as patiently as she
might. But it was very weary work, and at times Mrs. Collinson's
tender heart ached for her.

"You are worrying needlessly, my dearie," the good woman would often
say, with a great show of cheerfulness, when Stephanie had been quieter
or sadder than usual. "Dick will be back before very long. We are
sure of it."

"If I could know that," the girl would answer, "I should not mind so
much. But sometimes I can't help thinking, suppose he should never
come? Suppose I wait for years, and still he does not come? I know I
'm silly, but you don't know--you can't know what he was to me. I hate
to think so, but--but perhaps he may be too much ashamed ever to
return. How shall I bear to wait, knowing he may never return after
all?"

Then the rosy, motherly, little woman would soothe and comfort her.
"Dick loves you too well to stay away for good, and you know it at the
bottom of your heart, child. There 's no weariness like the weariness
of waiting, I know. But many lives seem to be made up of waiting and
prayings of which we don't see the end--more hopeless waiting and
praying than yours. For, after all, such things are in higher hands
than ours. And if we watch and pray patiently and trustfully, we are
maybe doing more than we think, Stephanie." Whereat the farmer would
nod in solemn admiration of his wife, and Stephanie would face the
recurring days with hope renewed.

At the bottom of her heart she had always dreaded and expected
something of the sort to happen. Dick's character was easy to read,
and no one was surprised that he should have thus yielded to his love
of the wilds. That did not make the pain of disappointment and anxiety
any the less. But as time went on, the sincere and simple faith of the
Collinson homestead taught Stephanie an abiding lesson. She learned to
leave her brother's welfare in the hands of God, and to be more content
with her task of waiting and praying, sure that a greater love even
than her own was watching over Dick.

That fair spring passed, and its flowers gave place to the more
gorgeous blossoms of early summer. Wi