iew, upon whose pine-trees the distant air began to
tinge with blue. On the curving bluffs on either side the trees stood in
stately crowds; hardly a leaf had fallen, except from the golden
walnut-trees; the colour of the foliage was for the most part like the
plumage of some green southern bird, iridescence of gold and red shot
through. To her right, where a part of the long hill had been cleared of
trees, the sun shone upon bare gullies in the soap-stone cliffs, making
the colour of that particular brown bit of earth very vivid. Everywhere
a soft autumn haze was lying, and above white clouds were swinging
across the pale blue sky.

After threading the valley path for a mile Susannah was ascending the
bluff to get to the level of the upper farms, when, much to her
surprise, she came, as once before upon the hill Cumorah, upon Joseph
Smith. He was lying under a group of giant walnut-trees, whose boles
were sheltered from the road by a natural hedge of red dogwood and
brambles. He had apparently been occupied at his devotions, but she only
saw him arising hastily. This time there was no peep-stone; it had long
since been discarded. The prophet had a Bible in his hand, and it was
evident that he had been weeping. It was in those lands the habit of
religious men of all sects to make oratories of the woods. Susannah's
only desire was to pass and leave him undisturbed, but he spoke.

He began severely, "Sister Susannah Halsey, it is not meet that a woman
should stray so far from home and without companions."

For a moment Susannah stood abashed. Unaccustomed to censure, she
supposed that she must have done wrong. "I have walked this way before,"
she began meekly, "but if--" She stopped here, her own judgment in the
matter beginning to assert itself.

The prophet had forgotten his reproof. At all times his conversation was
apt to reveal that sudden changes of mental phase took place within him
apparently without conscious volition. He now exclaimed with more modest
mien, "It is, no doubt, by the will of the Lord that you are come, for I
stood in sore need of comfort, for the revelation of the truth is a
trial hard to endure, and at times very bitter."

"Is it?" asked Susannah intently. It was impossible but that her long
curiosity should find some vent, and yet she shrank inwardly from her
own prying.

The prophet leaned against a huge bole. The ground at his feet was
covered with yellow walnut leaves and the olive-colo