e his story; but
Fate did interfere, and, one day in the early fall, brought about an
incident which changed the whole world for the two young people.

It was the afternoon of an Indian summer day--in that most beautiful
time of all the year--and Betty, accompanied by her dog, had
wandered up the hillside into the woods. From the hilltop the broad
river could be seen winding away in the distance, and a soft,
bluish, smoky haze hung over the water. The forest seemed to be on
fire. The yellow leaves of the poplars, the brown of the white and
black oaks, the red and purple of the maples, and the green of the
pines and hemlocks flamed in a glorious blaze of color. A stillness,
which was only broken now and then by the twittering of birds
uttering the plaintive notes peculiar to them in the autumn as they
band together before their pilgrimage to the far south, pervaded the
forest.

Betty loved the woods, and she knew all the trees. She could tell
their names by the bark or the shape of the leaves. The giant black
oak, with its smooth shiny bark and sturdy limbs, the chestnut with
its rugged, seamed sides and bristling burrs, the hickory with its
lofty height and curled shelling bark, were all well known and well
loved by Betty. Many times had she wondered at the trembling,
quivering leaves of the aspen, and the foliage of the silver-leaf as
it glinted in the sun. To-day, especially, as she walked through the
woods, did their beauty appeal to her. In the little sunny patches
of clearing which were scattered here and there in the grove, great
clusters of goldenrod grew profusely. The golden heads swayed
gracefully on the long stems Betty gathered a few sprigs and added
to them a bunch of warmly tinted maple leaves.

The chestnuts burrs were opening. As Betty mounted a little rocky
eminence and reached out for a limb of a chestnut tree, she lost her
footing and fell. Her right foot had twisted under her as she went
down, and when a sharp pain shot through it she was unable to
repress a cry. She got up, tenderly placed the foot on the ground
and tried her weight on it, which caused acute pain. She unlaced and
removed her moccasin to find that her ankle had commenced to swell.
Assured that she had sprained it, and aware of the serious
consequences of an injury of that nature, she felt greatly
distressed. Another effort to place her foot on the ground and bear
her weight on it caused such severe pain that she was compelled to