am had
taken.

To my astonishment I saw all the sheep so near that I wonder we had not
been aware in the house of every bleat and tinkle. And there, within a
stone's-throw, on the first long gray ledge that showed above the
juniper, were William and the shepherdess engaged in pleasant
conversation. At first I was provoked and then amused, and a thrill of
sympathy warmed my whole heart. They had seen me and risen as if by
magic; I had a sense of being the messenger of Fate. One could almost
hear their sighs of regret as I appeared; they must have passed a
lovely afternoon. I hurried into the house with the reassuring news
that they were not only in sight but perfectly safe, with all the sheep.

VIII.

Mrs. Hight, like myself, was spent with conversation, and had ceased
even the one activity of fanning herself. I brought a desired drink of
water, and happily remembered some fruit that was left from my
luncheon. She revived with splendid vigor, and told me the simple
history of her later years since she had been smitten in the prime of
her life by the stroke of paralysis, and her husband had died and left
her alone with Esther and a mortgage on their farm. There was only one
field of good land, but they owned a great region of sheep pasture and
a little woodland. Esther had always been laughed at for her belief in
sheep-raising when one by one their neighbors were giving up their
flocks, and when everything had come to the point of despair she had
raised all the money and bought all the sheep she could, insisting that
Maine lambs were as good as any, and that there was a straight path by
sea to Boston market. And by tending her flock herself she had managed
to succeed; she had made money enough to pay off the mortgage five
years ago, and now what they did not spend was safe in the bank. "It
has been stubborn work, day and night, summer and winter, an' now she
's beginnin' to get along in years," said the old mother sadly. "She
's tended me 'long o' the sheep, an' she 's been a good girl right
along, but she ought to have been a teacher;" and Mrs. Hight sighed
heavily and plied the fan again.

We heard voices, and William and Esther entered; they did not know that
it was so late in the afternoon. William looked almost bold, and oddly
like a happy young man rather than an ancient boy. As for Esther, she
might have been Jeanne d'Arc returned to her sheep, touched with age
and gray with the ashes of a gr