Cameron said I ought to be," and Katy tossed into the air a wisp of the
new-made hay.

"I don't know who Wilford Cameron is, but there's no ought about it,"
the deacon rejoined. "God marks out the path for us to walk in, and when
he says it's best, we know it is, though some are straight and pleasant
and others crooked and hard."

"I'll choose the straight and pleasant, then--why shouldn't I?" Kate
asked, laughingly, as she seated herself upon a rock near which the hay
cart had stopped.

"Can't tell what path you'll take," the deacon answered. "God knows
whether you'll go easy through the world, or whether he'll send you
suffering to purify and make you better."

"Purified by suffering," Kate said aloud, while a shadow involuntarily
crept for an instant over her gay spirits.

She could not believe she was to be purified by suffering. She had never
done anything very bad, and humming a part of a song learned from
Wilford Cameron, she followed after the loaded cart, returning slowly to
the house, thinking to herself that there must be something great and
good in the suffering which should purify at last, but hoping she was
not the one to whom this great good should come.

It was supper time ere long, and after that was over Kate announced her
intention of going now to Linwood, Morris' home, whether he were there
or not.