head close to her face and kissed his lips
passionately.

"Stephen, I've come back to you. Forgive me--forgive me--say that you
forgive me."

"It's all right, my girl," he said feebly.

She buried her face in the pillow beside his with a sob.

In the wan, grey light of the autumn dawn the old doctor came to the
bedside and lifted Emily to her feet. She had not stirred the whole
night. Now she raised her white face with dumb pleading in her eyes.
The doctor glanced at the sleeping form on the bed.

"Your husband will live, Mrs. Fair," he said gently. "I think your
coming saved him. His joy turned the ebbing tide in favour of life."

"Thank God!" said Emily.

And for the first time in her life her beautiful voice trembled.

Min

The morning sun hung, a red, lustreless ball, in the dull grey sky. A
light snow had fallen in the night and the landscape, crossed by
spider-like trails of fences, was as white and lifeless as if wrapped
in a shroud.

A young man was driving down the road to Rykman's Corner; the youthful
face visible above the greatcoat was thoughtful and refined, the eyes
deep blue and peculiarly beautiful, the mouth firm yet sensitive. It
was not a handsome face, but there was a strangely subtle charm about
it.

The chill breathlessness of the air seemed prophetic of more snow. The
Reverend Allan Telford looked across the bare wastes and cold white
hills and shivered, as if the icy lifelessness about him were slowly
and relentlessly creeping into his own heart and life.

He felt utterly discouraged. In his soul he was asking bitterly what
good had come of all his prayerful labours among the people of this
pinched, narrow world, as rugged and unbeautiful in form and life as
the barren hills that shut them in.

He had been two years among them and he counted it two years of
failure. He had been too outspoken for them; they resented sullenly
his direct and incisive tirades against their pet sins. They viewed
his small innovations on their traditional ways of worship with
disfavour and distrust and shut him out of their lives with an
ever-increasing coldness. He had meant well and worked hard and he
felt his failure keenly.

His thoughts reverted to a letter received the preceding day from a
former classmate, stating that the pastorate of a certain desirable
town church had become vacant and hinting that a call was to be
moderated for him unless he signified his unwillingness to accept.