path. I watched
her until she reached the house and went up the steps. In truth I
thought the girl was someone not quite in her right mind. When I
reached home I did not speak of the matter to anyone, not even to
inquire who the girl might possibly be. There seemed to be something
in that strange meeting that demanded my silence.

The next morning word came that old Mr. Lawrence was dead. When I
hurried down to Woodlands I found all in confusion, but Mrs. Yeats
took me into the blue parlour and told me what little there was to
tell.

"He must have died soon after you left him, Miss Jeanette," she
sobbed, "for Mrs. Stewart wakened at ten o'clock and he was gone. He
lay there, smiling, with such a strange look on his face as if he had
just seen something that made him wonderfully happy. I never saw such
a look on a dead face before."

"Who is here besides Mrs. Stewart?" I asked.

"Nobody," said Mrs. Yeats. "We have sent word to all his friends but
they have not had time to arrive here yet."

"I met a young girl in the garden last night," I said slowly. "She
came into the house. I did not know her but I thought she must be a
relative of Mr. Lawrence's."

Mrs. Yeats shook her head.

"No. It must have been somebody from the village, although I didn't
know of anyone calling after you went away."

I said nothing more to her about it.

After the funeral Mrs. Stewart gave me Margaret's miniature. I had
never seen it or any picture of Margaret before. The face was very
lovely--also strangely like my own, although I am not beautiful. It
was the face of the young girl I had met at the gate!

The Light on the Big Dipper

"Don't let Nellie run out of doors, Mary Margaret, and be careful of
the fire, Mary Margaret. I expect we'll be back pretty soon after
dark, so don't be lonesome, Mary Margaret."

Mary Margaret laughed and switched her long, thick braid of black hair
from one shoulder to the other.

"No fear of my being lonesome, Mother Campbell. I'll be just as
careful as can be and there are so many things to be done that I'll be
as busy and happy as a bee all day long. Nellie and I will have just
the nicest kind of a time. I won't get lonesome, but if I should feel
just tempted to, I'll think, Father is on his way home. He will soon
be here.' And that would drive the lonesomeness away before it dared
to show its face. Don't you worry, Mother Campbell."

Mother Campbell smiled. She knew she could trust M