thought, and any amount of
money. Oh, well. She had it to spend, and of what else were they
capable--those hands? He could see them fluttering caressingly over the
keys, pink, slender, pretty,--and then he saw other hands, somewhat
work-worn, not small nor yet too large, but white and shapely. Ah! Of
what were they not capable? And the other girl in coarse white homespun,
seated before the fire in Hoke Belew's cabin, holding in her arms the
small bundle--and her smile, so rare and fleeting!

He saw again the handsome sullen youth in Bishop Towers' garden,
regarding him over the hedge with narrowed eyes, and his whole nature
rebelled and cried out as before, "What a waste!" Why should he allow it
to go on? He must thrash this thing out once for all before he returned
to his cabin--the right and the wrong of the case before he should see
her again, while as yet he could be engineer of his own forces and hold
his hand on the throttle to guide himself safely and wisely.

Could he succeed in influencing her to set her young lover's claims one
side? But in his heart he knew if such a thing were possible, she would
not be herself; she would be another being, and his love for her would
cease. No, he must see her but little, and let the tragedy go on even as
the bishop had said--go on as if he never had known her. As soon as
possible he must return and take up his work where he could not see the
slow wreck of her life. A heavy dread settled down upon him, and he rode
on with bowed head, until his horse stumbled and thus roused him from
his revery.

To what wild spot had the animal brought him? David lifted his head and
looked about him, and it was as if he had been caught up and dropped in
an enchanted wood. The horse had climbed among great boulders and paused
beneath an enormous overhanging rock. He heard, off at one side, the
rushing sound of a mountain stream and judged he was near the head of
Lone Pine Creek. But oh, the wildness of the spot and the beauty of it
and the lonely charm! He tied his horse to a lithe limb that swung above
his head and, dismounting, clambered on towards the rushing water.

The place was so screened in as to leave no vista anywhere, hiding the
mountains on all sides. Light green foliage overhead, where branches
thickly interlaced from great trees growing out of the bank high above,
made a cool, lucent shadowiness all around him. There was a delicious
odor of sweet-shrub in the air, and the frui