Why should they not indeed, for if anywhere upon the earth, if it be
given and received in youth before the heart has been seared and tainted
with bitterness and disillusion, surely in such a pledge as theirs true
joy can be found. Yes, and they did more than this, for, kneeling there
upon that rock where once the starving child had knelt in bygone years,
they prayed to Him who had brought them together, to Him who had given
them hearts to love with and bodies to be loved, and the immortality
of Heaven wherein to garner this seed of love thus sown upon the earth,
that He would guide them, bless them, and protect them through all
trials, terrors, sorrows, and separations. As shall be seen, this indeed
He did.

Then they rose, and having, not without difficulty, lifted the riet-buck
ram upon Ralph's horse and made it fast there, as our hunters know how
to do, they started homewards, walking the most part of the way, for the
load was heavy and they were in no haste, so that they only reached the
farm about noon.

Now I, watching them as we sat at our mid-day meal, grew sure that
something out of the common had passed between them. Suzanne was very
silent, and from time to time glanced at Ralph shyly, whereon, feeling
her eyes, he would grow red as the sunset, and seeing his trouble, she
would colour also, as though with the knowledge of some secret that made
her both happy and ashamed.

"You were long this morning in finding a buck, Ralph," I said.

"Yes, mother," he answered; "there were none on the flats, for the grass
is burnt off; and had not Suzanne beaten out a dry pan for me where the
reeds were still green, I think that we should have found nothing. As it