the cover of the
opening hymn to allow her to find her way to a group of her girl
friends, the males of the party taking shelter with a neighbouring group
of their own sex near by.

Upon the sloping sides of the grassy hills and under the beech and
maple trees, the vanguard of the retreating woods, sat the congregation,
facing the preacher, who stood on the grassy level below. Behind them
was the solid wall of thick woods, over them time spreading boughs, and
far above the trees the blue summer sky, all the bluer for the little
white clouds that sailed serene like ships upon a sea. At their feet lay
the open country, checkered by the snake fences into fields of yellow,
green, and brown, and rolling away to meet the woods at the horizon.

The Sabbath rest filled the sweet air, breathed from the shady woods,
rested upon the checkered fields, and lifted with the hymn to the blue
heaven above. A stately cathedral it was, this place of worship, filled
with the incense of flowers and fields, arched by the high dome of
heaven, and lighted by the glory of the setting sun.

Relieved by the walk for a time from the ache in his head, Cameron
surrendered himself to the mysterious influences of the place and
the hour. He let his eyes wander over the fields below him to the far
horizon, and beyond--beyond the woods, beyond the intervening leagues
of land and sea--and was again gazing upon the sunlit loveliness of the
Cuagh Oir. The Glen was abrim with golden light this summer evening,
the purple was on the hills and the little loch gleamed sapphire at the
bottom.

The preacher was reading his text.

"Unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to every
man according to his several ability, and straightway took his journey,"
and so on to the end of that marvellously wise tale, wise with the
wisdom of God, confirmed by the wisdom of human experience.

The Reverend Harper Freeman's voice could hardly, even by courtesy, be
called musical; in fact, it was harsh and strident; but this evening
the hills, and the trees, and the wide open spaces, Nature's mighty
modulator, subdued the harshness, so that the voice rolled up to the
people clear, full, and sonorous. Nor was the preacher possessed of
great learning nor endued with the gift of eloquence. He had, however, a
shrewd knowledge of his people and of their ways and of their needs, and
he had a kindly heart, and, more than all, he had the preacher's gift,
the di