umstances." After receiving my answer, in which I, of
course, expressed my readiness to assent to his proposal, he proceeded to
unharness his horse, and, feeling myself much better, I got down, and
began to make the necessary preparations for passing the night beneath
the oak.

Whilst thus engaged, I felt myself touched on the shoulder, and, looking
round, perceived the woman, whom the stranger called Winifred, standing
close to me. The moon was shining brightly upon her, and I observed that
she was very good-looking, with a composed, yet cheerful expression of
countenance; her dress was plain and primitive, very much resembling that
of a Quaker. She held a straw bonnet in her hand. "I am glad to see
thee moving about, young man," said she, in a soft, placid tone; "I could
scarcely have expected it. Thou must be wondrous strong; many, after
what thou hast suffered, would not have stood on their feet for weeks or
months. What do I say?--Peter, my husband, who is skilled in medicine,
just now told me that not one in five hundred would have survived what
thou hast this day undergone; but allow me to ask thee one thing, Hast
thou returned thanks to God for thy deliverance?" I made no answer, and
the woman, after a pause, said, "Excuse me, young man, but do you know
anything of God?" "Very little," I replied, "but I should say he must be
a wondrous strong person, if he made all those big bright things up above
there, to say nothing of the ground on which we stand, which bears beings
like these oaks, each of which is fifty times as strong as myself, and
will live twenty times as long." The woman was silent for some moments,
and then said, "I scarcely know in what spirit thy words are uttered. If
thou art serious, however, I would caution thee against supposing that
the power of God is more manifested in these trees, or even in those
bright stars above us, than in thyself--they are things of time, but thou
art a being destined to an eternity; it depends upon thyself whether thy
eternity shall be one of joy or sorrow."

Here she was interrupted by the man, who exclaimed from the other side of
the tree, "Winifred, it is getting late, you had better go up to the
house on the hill to inform our friends of our arrival, or they will have
retired for the night." "True," said Winifred, and forthwith wended her
way to the house in question, returning shortly with another woman, whom
the man, speaking in the same language whi