r soul was warbling a plaintive little air within. He
bent his head and passed through the lowly door. As his foot sounded
upon the threshold a young woman advanced from the dusky interior of
the house, at first hastily, and then with a more uncertain step, till
they met face to face. There was a singular contrast in their two
figures--he dark and picturesque, one who had battled with the world,
whom all suns had shone upon and whom all winds had blown on a varied
course; she neat, comely and quiet--quiet even in her agitation--as if
all her emotions had been subdued to the peaceful tenor of her life.
Yet their faces, all unlike as they were, had an expression that
seemed not so alien--a glow of kindred feeling flashing upward anew
from half-extinguished embers.

"You are welcome home," said Faith Egerton.

But Cranfield did not immediately answer, for his eye had, been caught
by an ornament in the shape of a heart which Faith wore as a brooch
upon her bosom. The material was the ordinary white quartz, and he
recollected having himself shaped it out of one of those Indian
arrowheads which are so often found in the ancient haunts of the red
men. It was precisely on the pattern of that worn by the visionary
maid. When Cranfield departed on his shadowy search, he had bestowed
this brooch, in a gold setting, as a parting gift to Faith Egerton.

"So, Faith, you have kept the heart?" said he, at length.

"Yes," said she, blushing deeply; then, more gayly, "And what else
have you brought me from beyond the sea?"

"Faith," replied Ralph Cranfield, uttering the fated words by an
uncontrollable impulse, "I have brought you nothing but a heavy heart.
May I rest its weight on you?"

"This token which I have worn so long," said Faith, laying her
tremulous finger on the heart, "is the assurance that you may."

"Faith, Faith!" cried Cranfield, clasping her in his arms; "you have
interpreted my wild and weary dream!"

Yes, the wild dreamer was awake at last. To find the mysterious
treasure he was to till the earth around his mother's dwelling and
reap its products; instead of warlike command or regal or religious
sway, he was to rule over the village children; and now the visionary
maid had faded from his fancy, and in her place he saw the playmate of
his childhood.

Would all who cherish such wild wishes but look around them, they
would oftenest find their sphere of duty, of prosperity and happiness,
within those precincts