at way."

But this time her ready answer was lacking. She was wondering what her
aunt would think of this sudden appearance of a stranger whose name she
had never so much as mentioned.

"It is a pleasant rest to stand and look at a view like that, after a
summer of musty labor," said he, gazing up the river with a truly
appreciative eye. "I do not wonder you carry the charm of the wild woods
in your laugh and glance, if you have been brought up in the sight of
such a view as that."

"It has been my meat and drink from childhood," said she, and wondered
why she wanted to say no more upon her favorite theme.

"Yet you tell me you love the city?"

"Too much to ever again be happy here."

It was a slip for which her cheek burned and her lids fell, the moment
after. She had been thinking of Mr. Sylvester, and unconsciously spake
as she might have done, if he had been at her side, instead of this
genial-hearted young man. With a woman's instinctive desire to retrieve
herself, she hurriedly continued, "Life is so full and large and deep in
a great town, if you are only happy enough to meet those who are its
blood and brain and sinew. One misses the rush of the great wheel of
time in a spot like this. The world moves, but we do not feel it; it is
like the quiet sweep of the stars over our heads. But in the city, days,
weeks and months make themselves felt. The universe jars under the feet
of hurrying masses. The story of the world is being written on pavement,
corridor, and dome, so that he who runs may read. One realizes he is
alive; the unit is part of the multiple. To those who are tired, God
gives the rest of the everlasting hills, but to those who are eager, he
holds out the city with its innumerable opportunities and incentives.
And I am eager," she said. "The flower blooms on the mountain, and its
perfume is sweet, but the chariot sings as it rushes, and the noise of
its wheels is music in my ears."

She paused, turned her face to the breeze, and seemed to forget she was
not alone. Clarence Ensign eyed her with astonishment; he had never
heard her speak like this; the earnest side of her great nature had
never been turned towards him before, and he felt himself shrink into
insignificance in its presence. What was he that he should pluck a star
from the heavens, to buckle on his breast! Wealth and position were a
match for beauty great as hers, and a kind heart current coin all the
world over, for a gentle disposi