the afternoon they went, these two, out by the long way to
the breaker. Ralph looked up at the grim, black monster, and thought
of the days gone by; the days of watchfulness, of weariness, of
hopeless toil that he had spent shut up within its jarring walls.

But they were over now. He should never again climb the narrow steps
to the screen-room in the darkness of the early morning. He should
never again take his seat on the black bench to bend above the stream
of flowing coal, to breathe the thick dust, and listen to the rattling
and the roaring all day long. That time had passed, there was to be no
more grinding toil, no more harsh confinement in the heat and dust,
no more longing for the bright sunlight and the open air, nor for the
things of life that lay beyond his reach. The night was gone, the
morning was come, the May day of his life was dawning, wealth was
lying at his feet, rich love was overshadowing him; why should he not
be happy?

"Seems jest as though I hadn't never had any trouble, Uncle Billy," he
said, "as though I'd been kind o' waitin' an' waitin' all along for
jest this, an' now it's here, ain't it?"

"Yes, lad."

"An' some way it's all so quiet an' smooth like, so peaceful, don't
you know. She--she seems to be so glad 'at she needn't keep me away
from her no longer after the trial's over. I think she wants me to
come, don't you? It ain't like most law-suits, is it?"

"She's a lovin' lady, an' I'm a-thinkin' they're a-meanin' to deal
rightly by ye, Ralph."

There was a pause. They were sitting on the bank in the shadow of
the breaker, and the soft wind was bringing up to them the perfume
of apple-blossoms from the orchard down by the road-side. Silence,
indeed, was the only means of giving fitting expression to such quiet
joy as pervaded the boy's heart.

A man, driving along the turnpike with a horse and buggy, turned up
the road to the breaker, and stopped in front of Bachelor Billy and
the boy.

"Is this Ralph?" he asked.

"Yes," said the boy, "that's me."

"Well, Mrs. Burnham would like to see you. She sent me over to bring
you. I went to your house, and they said most likely I'd find you up
here. Just jump in and we'll drive right down."

Ralph looked up inquiringly at Bachelor Billy.

"Go on, lad," he said; "when the mither sen's for ye, ye mus' go."
Ralph climbed up into the buggy.

"Good-by, Uncle Billy," he called out, as they started away down the
hill.

Bachelor Billy d