from motives of fear, too! At length she burst out, "I don't believe you
ever saw an angel, Mr. Smith. I think it's very wicked of you to have
made it up, and about the gold Bible too."

They were still half a mile from the nearest house. Susannah gasped.
When she had spoken her defiance she realised that if she had nothing
worse to fear, she at least deserved to be left alone among the raging
elements. She staggered somewhat, expecting a rebuff.

"I guess you'd better take my arm," he said. "It ain't no sort of a day
for a woman to be out."

When she hesitated, flushed and frightened, a smile came for the first
time across his face. "You're almost beat back by the wind. It won't
hurt you to grip hold of my sleeve, you know, even if I am a thundering
big liar. I don't know as I can expect you to believe anything else.
Emmar didn't for a long time, but then, after a spell, she gave up all
the comforts of her father's house just to stand by me, and no one's
ever had a word to say against Emmar."

They stopped at a farmhouse on the outskirts of the village.

Smith had said to Susannah, "There's a gentleman I know stopping at
Sharon Peck's. I'll pass the umbrellar on to him, and he'll take you
home. He's been a Quaker, but I guess you'll find him a pretty nice
young gentleman. Mrs. Peck, she isn't to home."

He left Susannah standing upon the lee side of a wooden house amid
treeless fields. The eaves sheltered her. She stooped down and with both
hands wrung the water from her skirts. She was busy over this when the