re and
Mrs. Carruthers were busy; the doctor had his patient to look after, and
expected to be summoned to the other at the post office; and Mr. Terry
occupied himself with the children. But Mrs. Du Plessis and her
daughter, Miss Graves, Miss Halbert, and, of course the colonel and Mr.
Perrowne, were willing to be pedestrians, if the proposers of the tramp
promised not to walk too fast. There was a pretty hillside, beyond
Talfourds on the road towards the Beaver River, from which the timber
had once been removed, and which was now covered, but not too thickly,
with young second growth; and thither the party determined to wend their
way. Marjorie had intended to stay at home, in the hope of being allowed
to see Eugene again, but the doctor had begged her to leave him alone
for a day or two, and now the prospect of blackberry and thimbleberry
picking on the hillside was too much for her to resist. Gaining
permission from her aunt, she loaded Jim with baskets and little tin
pails, and led him away to the road between herself and Miss Graves. The
other gentlemen relieved the burdened Edinburghian of portions of his
load, and fell into natural pairs with the ladies, Miss Du Plessis and
Wilkinson bringing up the rear. There was a pleasant lake breeze to
temper the heat of the fine August morning, which gave the dominie
license to quote his favourite poet:--

And now I call the pathway by thy name,
And love the fir-grove with a perfect love.
Thither do I withdraw when cloudless suns
Shine hot, or wind blows troublesome and strong.

Anticipating the thimbleberries, he recited:--

Thy luscious fruit the boy well knows,
Wild bramble of the brake.

Miss Du Plessis liked that sort of thing. It was a blessed relief from
type-written legal business letters. So she responded in the lines of
Lamartine:--

Mon coeur a ce reveil du jour que Dieu renvoie,
Vers un ciel qui sourit s'eleve sar sa joie,
Et de ces dons nouveaux rendant grace au Seigneur,
Murmure en s'eveillant son hymne interieur,
Demande un jour de paix, de bonheur, d'innocence,
Un jour qui pese entier dans la sainte balance,
Quand la main qui les pese a ses poids infinis
Retranchera du temps ceux qu'il n'a pas benis!

By this it will appear that the two were admirably suited to each other,
finding in their companion peculiar excellences they might have vainly
sought among a thousand on Canadian s