ay on this," she said,
as he took it from her hand.

They crossed the little river that tumbled and rushed among great
moss-covered boulders on its way to the fall, and followed its wayward
course toward its head, where the way was untrodden and wild, as if no
human foot had ever climbed along its banks. After a little they turned
off toward a tremendous rock of solid granite that had been cleft
smoothly in twain by some gigantic force of nature, and, walking between
the towering walls of stone, came out on the farther side upon a small
level space, where immense ferns and flags grew thickly in the rich
soil, held in place and kept damp by the great cool masses of stone.

Above this little dell the hill rose steeply, and Cassandra led him to a
narrow opening in the dense shrubbery surrounding the spot from which a
beaten path wound upward, overarched with thickly interlacing branches
of birch wood and hemlocks. Along this winding trail they climbed, until
they reached a cluster of enormous cedars which made the dark place on
the mountain Cassandra had pointed out to him from below. Here the path
widened so they could walk side by side, and continued along a level
line at the foot of the dark mass of trees.

"Here father used to walk up and down reading in his little books; seems
like I can hear his voice now. Sometimes he would look off over the
valley below us there and repeat parts by heart. Isn't it beautiful
here, David?"

"Heavenly beautiful!"

"I'm glad we never came here before."

"Why, dearest?"

"Because." She hesitated with parted lips, and cheeks flushed from the
climb. David stood with bared head. He felt as if he were in a
cathedral.

"And why because?" he asked again.

"For now we bring just happiness with us. We're not troubled or
wondering about anything. No sorrow comes with us. In our hearts we are
sure--sure--" She paused again and lifted her eyes to his.

"Sure that all is right when we belong to each other--this way?"

"Yes, sure! Oh, David, sure--sure!" She threw her arms about his neck
and drew his face down to hers. "It's even a greater happiness than when
he used to carry me in his arms here. There's no sorrow near us. It's
all far away."

Thus, sometimes she would throw off all the habitual reserve of her
manner and open her heart to him, following the rich impulses of her
nature to their glorious revelation.

"Now, David, sit here and play; play your flute as you did that firs