m travelled to the mountains. But all the way
the young man fancied that he saw from time to time, as the bridle-path
curved in the intricacies of the laurel, the bowed old figure among
the mists, jogging along, his proud head and his stiff neck bent to the
slanting rain and the buffets of his unkind fate. And yet, pressing the
young horse to overtake him, Absalom could find naught but the fleecy
mists drifting down the bridle-path as the wind might will, or lurking
in the darkling nooks of the laurel when the wind would.

*****

The sun was shining on the mountains, and Absalom went up from the sad
gray rain and through the gloomy clouds of autumn hanging over the Cove
into a soft brilliant upper atmosphere--a generous after-thought of
summer--and the warm brightness of Evelina's smile. She stood in the
doorway as she saw him dismounting, with her finger on her lips, for
the baby was sleeping: he put much of his time into that occupation. The
tiny gourds hung yellow among the vines that clambered over the roof of
the porch, and a brave jack-bean--a friend of the sheltering eaves--made
shift to bloom purple and white, though others of the kind hung, crisp
and sere, and rattled their dry bones in every gust. The "gyarden spot"
at the side of the house was full of brown and withered skeletons of
the summer growths; among the crisp blades of the Indian-corn a sibilant
voice was forever whispering; down the tawny-colored vistas the pumpkins
glowed. The sky was blue; the yellow hickory flaming against it and
hanging over the roof of the cabin was a fine color to see. The red
sour-wood tree in the fence corner shook out a myriad of white tassels;
the rolling tumult of the gray clouds below thickened, and he could hear
the rain a-falling--falling into the dreary depths of the Cove.

All this for him: why should he disquiet himself for the storm that
burst upon others?

Evelina seemed a part of the brightness; her dark eyes so softly alight,
her curving red lips, the faint flush in her cheeks, her rich brown
hair, and the purplish kerchief about the neck of her yellow dress. Once
more she looked smilingly at him, and shook her head and laid her finger
on her lip.

"I oughter been sati'fied with all I got, stiddier hectorin' other folks
till they 'ain't got no heart ter hold on ter what they been at sech
trouble ter git," he said, as he turned out the horse and strode
gloomily toward the house with the saddle over his arm.