"My dear," replied her aunt, "what Ranald says is quite true. You cannot
be too careful in moving about the fire."

"Well, he needn't be so cross about it," said Maimie. She had never been
ordered about before in her life, and she did not enjoy the experience,
and all the more at the hands of an uncouth country boy. She watched
Ranald attending to the fire and the kettles, however, with a new
respect. He certainly had no fear of the fire, but moved about it and
handled it with the utmost sang-froid. He had a certain grace, too, in
his movements that caught her eye, and she wished he would come nearer
so that she could speak to him. She had considerable confidence in her
powers of attraction. As if to answer her wish, Ranald came straight to
where her aunt and she were standing.

"I think it will be time for tea now," he said, with a sudden return of
his awkward manner, that made Maimie wonder why she had ever been afraid
of him. "I will tell Don," he added, striding off toward the group of
boys and girls, still busy with their games under the trees.

Soon Don's shout was heard: "Tea, ladies and gentlemen; take your seats
at the tables." And speedily there was a rush and scramble, and in a few
moments the great heaps of green balsam boughs arranged around the fire
were full of boys and girls pulling, pinching, and tumbling over one
another in wild glee.

The toast stood in brown heaps on birch-bark plates beside the fire, and
baskets were carried out of the shanty bulging with cakes; the tea
was bubbling in the big tin tea-pail, and everything was ready for the
feast. But Ranald had caught Mrs. Murray's eye, and at a sign from her,
stood waiting with the tea-pail in his hand.

"Come on with the tea, Ranald," cried Don, seizing a plate of toast.

"Wait a minute, Don," said Ranald, in a low tone.

"What's the matter?"

But Ranald stood still, looking silently at the minister's wife. Then,
as all eyes turned toward her, she said, in a gentle, sweet voice,
"I think we ought to give thanks to our Father in heaven for all this
beauty about us and for all our joy."

At once Ranald took off his hat, and as the boys followed his example,
Mrs. Murray bowed her head and in a few, simple words lifted up the
hearts of all with her own in thanksgiving for the beauty of the woods
and sky above them, and all the many gifts that came to fill their lives
with joy.

It was not the first time that Ranald had heard her voice in p