the brook, over which they flung
their arms, so as to shade it as with a canopy; the ground beneath was
bare of grass, and nearly as hard and smooth as the floor of a barn.
Having led his own cart on one side of the midmost tree, and my own on
the other, the stranger said to me: "This is the spot where my wife and
myself generally tarry in the summer season, when we come into these
parts. We are about to pass the night here. I suppose you will have no
objection to do the same? Indeed, I do not see what else you could do
under present circumstances." After receiving my answer, in which I, of
course, expressed my readiness to assent to his proposal, he proceeded to
unharness his horse, and, feeling myself much better, I got down, and
began to make the necessary preparations for passing the night beneath
the oak.

Whilst thus engaged, I felt myself touched on the shoulder, and, looking
round, perceived the woman, whom the stranger called Winifred, standing
close to me. The moon was shining brightly upon her, and I observed that
she was very good-looking, with a composed, yet cheerful expression of
countenance; her dress was plain and primitive, very much resembling that
of a Quaker. She held a straw bonnet in her hand. "I am glad to see
thee moving about, young man," said she, in a soft, placid tone; "I could
scarcely have expected it. Thou must be wondrous strong; many, after
what thou hast suffered, would not have stood on their feet for weeks and
months. What do I say?--Peter, my husband, who is skilled in medicine,
just now told me that not one in five hundred would have survived what
thou hast this day undergone; but allow me to ask thee one thing, Hast
thou returned thanks to God for thy deliverance?" I made no answer, and
the woman, after a pause, said: "Excuse me, young man, but do you know
anything of God?" "Very little," I replied, "but I should say He must be
a wondrous strong person, if He made all those big bright things up above
there, to say nothing of the ground on which we stand, which bears beings
like these oaks, each of which is fifty times as strong as myself, and
will live twenty times as long." The woman was silent for some moments,
and then said: "I scarcely know in what spirit thy words are uttered. If
thou art serious, however, I would caution thee against supposing that
the power of God is more manifested in these trees, or even in those
bright stars above us, than in thyself--they ar