was so infectious that by degrees all talk ceased--each had his or her
own dreams for the moment. Bella and Doctor Morton, utterly unromantic
pair of lovers as they were, must have had some touch of the ordinary
softness of human nature; they looked content with all the world. Lucia,
leaning back with her crochet lying on her lap, and her eyes half hidden
by their black lashes, had yielded herself up entirely to the indolent
enjoyment of perfect stillness, forgetting even to be conscious of the
pair of handsome blue eyes which rested on her, taking in luxuriously
the charm of her beauty.

When this pause had lasted a minute or two, a sudden glance passed
between Mr. and Mrs. Bellairs. His said, "I am afraid you were
right;"--hers, "What shall we do?" to which he replied by getting up,
and saying,

"Are you all going to sleep, good people?"

A reluctant stir, and change of position among the group, answered him.

"What else can we do?" asked Bella. "It is too hot to move."

"If you intend to go on the river to-day, it had better be soon," said
her brother-in-law. "There is every appearance of a storm coming on."

"Not before we get home, I hope. But look, there is a canoe."

As she spoke, a small object came darting across the river. It
approached so fast, that in a minute or two they could distinguish
plainly that it was, in fact, a tiny bark canoe. One Indian woman,
seated at the end, seemed to be its only occupant; the repeated flashes