se of some ordinary excursion, but, to me, life had
suddenly grown significant.

The strong warm hand which clasped mine, weak and trembling, as I stepped
from the boat, I must recognize henceforth, I knew, as the link between
me and the living world.

For several days afterwards I considered the matter of my relation to the
Cradlebow in a new and serious light, especially in the light of present
gratitude, with a sense of life-long obligation; but the Cradlebow was
too generous and noble to recognize the obligation, or take advantage of
the gratitude. He loved me, I knew. He had watched for me. He had saved
my life. He should know, I resolved, that if he wished it still I would
wait for him.

And the idea was not foreign to my heart, but it grew, at last, too light
of wing, and disposed to take up permanent abode in the realm of fancy. A
poor, handsome young lover, seeking his fortune at the ends of the earth,
and the future--ah, it did send a little stab to my conscience, to think
that the uncertainty of that lover's future should so have heightened, to
my mind, the romance of the picture. However, meeting him in the lane one
evening, as I was returning from one of my parochial calls--it was just
at dusk, I remember, and we stood under the balm-of-Gilead tree, in front
of Emily's gate--I said very gravely and with none of that embarrassment
which the occasion might seem to have warranted:--

"Luther, although I seem to myself much older than you, we are really, I
suppose, of about the same age. I have known very happy attachments where
inconsistencies of birth, habit, education were far greater, perhaps,
than with us. I have made up my mind that, if you still desire it, I will
wait for you."

"Wait for me, teacher!" exclaimed the Cradlebow, opening his eyes with a
solemn, wide surprise; "why, of course!"

"Why, of course?" I questioned faintly, not knowing whether to smile at
being thus abruptly disarmed, or to feel the least little bit piqued at
the youth's unconscious audacity.

"What else should two people do who love each other?" There was nothing
either of doubt or arraignment in the Cradlebow's serious eyes.
"Besides," he continued; "I've known it all along. See here, teacher!"
and he took from his pocket, and carefully unfolded, a sheet of paper
against the background of which there lay revealed a dainty star fish,
most curiously twisted about with some rare and beautiful sea vine.

"You won't find tha