t least," she said, and glancing at the pale face of the
stranger unhesitatingly resolved to attempt it.

The descent was less difficult than she had anticipated, and in an
incredibly short space of time she was dipping her pretty velvet cap
in the brook, whose sparkling foam had never before been disturbed by
the touch of a hand as soft and fair as hers. To ascend was not so
easy a matter; but, chamois-like, Maggie's feet trod safely the
dangerous path, and she soon knelt by the unconscious man, bathing his
forehead in the clear cold water, until he showed signs of returning
life. His lips moved slowly at last, as if he would speak; and Maggie,
bending low to catch the faintest sound, heard him utter the name of
"Rose." In Maggie's bosom there was no feeling for the stranger save
that of pity, and yet that one word "Rose" thrilled her with a strange
undefinable emotion, awaking at once a yearning desire to know
something of her who bore that beautiful name, and who to the young
man was undoubtedly the one in all the world most dear.

"Rose," he said again, "is it you?" and his eyes, which opened slowly,
scanned with an eager, questioning look the face of Maggie, who,
open-hearted and impulsive as usual, answered somewhat sadly: "I am
nobody but Maggie Miller. I am not Rose, though I wish I was, if you
would like to see her."

The tones of her voice recalled the stranger's wandering mind, and he
answered: "Your voice is like Rose, but I would rather see you, Maggie
Miller. I like your fearlessness, so unlike most of your sex. Rose is
far more gentle, more feminine than you, and if her very life depended
upon it she would never dare leap that gorge."

The young man intended no reproof; but Maggie took his words as such,
and for the first time in her life began to think that possibly her
manner was not always as womanly as might be. At all events, she was
not like the gentle Rose, whom she instantly invested with every
possible grace and beauty, wishing that she herself was like her
instead of the wild madcap she was. Then, thinking that her conduct
required some apology, she answered, as none save one as fresh and
ingenuous as Maggie Miller would have answered: "I don't know any
better than to behave as I do. I've always lived in the woods--have
never been to school a day in my life--never been anywhere except to
camp-meeting, and once to Douglas' store in Worcester!"

This was entirely a new phase of character to t