ric. Where
did you find it?"

She described her search to him.

"Well, now, nothing will satisfy me but a mountain," said Raeburn. "Are
you too tired? We could have a good climb before dinner."

"Oh, let us!" she exclaimed. "I have had such a longing to get nearer
the snow."

Each felt that the holiday had now begun. They threw care to the winds,
and gave themselves up altogether to the enjoyment of the loveliest walk
they had ever taken. Crossing the Kreuzer bridge, they made their way
past little wooden chalets, through groves of oak where the sunlight
came flickering in between the leaves, through pine woods whose long
vistas were solemn as cathedral aisles, until at last they gained the
summit of the lower range of hills, from which was a glorious view
on every hand. Down below lay the little town which would be forever
memorable to them; while above them rose the grand chain of snowy
mountains which still seemed as lofty and unapproachable as ever, though
they themselves were on high ground. Soft and velvety and green lay
that great upward sweep in the sunshine, shaded in some places by a dark
patch of pines, or gleaming with a heap of fallen snow. Here and there
some deep rugged cleft would be filled from top to bottom with the
gleaming whiteness, while above, crowning the steep and barren height,
the snow reigned supreme, unmelted as yet even by the hot May sun.

And Erica was, in spite of her sorrow, unfeignedly happy. She could not
be sad when her father was so thoroughly enjoying himself, when for once
he was altogether removed from the baleful influences of hatred, malice,
and all uncharitableness. Here instead of sweeping denunciations,
which invariably drove him, as they drove even the patient Job, to an
assertion of his own righteousness there was the silent yet most real
teaching of Nature; and he must be a small-souled man, indeed, who,
in the presence of grand mountain scenery, can not forget his own
personality, realizing the infinite beauty and the unspeakable greatness
of nature. Erica's father was unquestionably a large-souled man, in
every sense of the word, a great man; but the best man in the world is
to a great extent dependent on circumstance, and the circumstances of
Raeburn's life had been exceptionally hard. Only two things on earth
acted as a check upon the one great fault which marred an otherwise fine
character. Beauty of scenery made him for the time being as humble as
a child, and