was filled with that great peace of possession which causes a man to
feel that he is safe from the ills of life. Henry felt fenced in and
guarded. Then suddenly the sense of possession upon earth filled his
whole soul with the hope of possession after death. Henry felt, for
the first time in his life, as if he had a firm standing-ground for
faith. For the first time he looked at the sunset sky, he listened to
the birds and children, he smelled the perfume of the earth, and
there was no bitterness in his soul. He smiled a smile of utter peace
which harmonized with it all, and the conviction of endless happiness
and a hereafter seemed to expand all his consciousness.



Chapter IV


The dining-room in the White homestead was a large, low room whose
southward windows were shaded at this season with a cloud of
gold-green young grape leaves. The paper was a nondescript pattern, a
large satin scroll on white. The room was wainscoted in white, and
the panel-work around the great chimney was beautiful. A Franklin
stove with a pattern of grape-vines was built into the chimney under
the high mantel. Sylvia regarded this dubiously.

"I don't think much of that old-fashioned Franklin stove," she told
Henry. "Why Abrahama had it left in, after she had her nice furnace,
beats me. Seems to me we had better have it taken out, and have a
nice board, covered with paper to match this on the room, put there
instead. There's a big roll of the paper up garret, and it ain't
faded a mite."