closed softly, tightly over hers; she heard him say almost inaudibly, --

"Till Monday."

She raised her shy eyes for one brief second to his glowing ones; and he
passed, a tall, dark figure, down the shadowy road.

When Mr. Levice returned from his game of whist, he quietly opened the door
of his daughter's bedroom and looked in. All was well; the wolf had
departed, and his lamb slept safe in the fold.

But in the dark his lamb's eyes were mysteriously bright. Sleep! With
this new crown upon her! Humble as the beautiful beggar-maid must have
felt when the king raised her, she wondered why she had been thus chosen by
one whom she had deemed so immeasurably above her. And this is another
phase of woman's love, --that it exalts the beloved beyond all reasoning.


Chapter XVI

At six o'clock the hills in their soft carpet of dull browns and greens
were gently warming under the sun's first rays. At seven the early train
that Dr. Kemp purposed taking would leave. Ruth, with this knowledge at
heart, had softly risen and left the cottage. Close behind the depot rose
a wooded hill. She had often climbed it with the Tyrrell boys; and what
was to prevent her doing so now? It afforded an excellent view of the
station.

It was very little past six, and she began leisurely to ascend the hill.
The sweet morning air was in her nostrils, and she pushed the broad hat