doesn't it, mother?"

"Moreover, Richard Morton," his wife added, "thee has voluntarily come
among us, and sat down with us for a quiet hour. Little claim to the
faith of Abraham could we have should we let thee wander off to get
thy dinner with the birds in the woods, for the village is miles
away."

"Mother'll make amends to thee for the silent meeting," said Mr.
Yocomb, looking around with an impressive nod.

"I trust she will," I replied. "I wanted to hear her preach. It was
her kindly face that led to my blunder, for it so attracted me from my
perch of observation on the wall that I acted on my impulse and
followed her into the meeting-house, feeling in advance that I had
found a friend."

"Well, I guess thee has, one of the old school," laughed her husband.

The daughter, Adah, turned and looked at me, while she smiled
approvingly. Oh, blessed day of destiny! When did dream and reality so
keep pace before? Was I not dreaming still, and imagining everything
to suit my own fancy? When would the perverse world begin to assert
itself?

Sitting just before me, on the next seat, so that I could often see
the same perfect profile, was the maiden that I had already wooed and
won in fancy. Though she was so near and in the full sunlight, I could
detect no cloudiness in her exquisite complexion, nor discover a fault
in her rounded form. The slope of her shoulders was grace itself. She