I followed her through a wide hall to a stairway that changed its mind
when half-way up and turned in an opposite direction. "It suggests the
freedom and unconventionality of this home," I thought, yielding to my
mood to idealize everything.

"This is thy room so long as thee'll be pleased to stay with us," she
said, with a genial smile, and her ample form vanished from the
doorway.

I was glad to be alone. The shining tide of events was bearing me
almost too swiftly. "Can this be even the beginning of true love,
since it runs so smoothly?" I queried. And yet it had all come about
so simply and naturally, and for everything there was such adequate
cause and rational explanation, that I assured myself that I had
reason for self-congratulation rather than wonder.

Having seen such a maiden, it would be strange indeed if I had not
been struck by her beauty. With an hour on my hands, and thoughts that
called no one master, it would have been stranger still if I had not
been beguiled into a dream which, in my need, promised so much that I
was now bent on its fulfilment. Kind Mr. and Mrs. Yocomb had but
carried out the teachings of their faith, and thus I was within the
home of one who, developing under the influences of such a mother and
such surroundings, would have the power beyond most other women of
creating another home. I naturally thought that here, in this lovely
and sheltered spot, and under just the conditions that existed, might
be perfected the simple, natural flower of womanhood that the
necessities of my life and character required.