here is nothing possible from
any direction. Never locked the cabin in my life, except your room, and
that was because it was sacred, not that there was any danger. Clear the
way, Bel!"

"Clear it of what?"

"Katydids, hoptoads, and other carnivorous animals."

"Now you are making fun of me! Clear it of what?"

"A coon that might go shuffling across, an opossum, or a snake going to
the lake. Now are you frightened so that you will not go?"

"No. The path is broad and white and surely you and Bel can take care of
me."

"If you will trust us we can."

"Well, I am trusting you."

"You are indeed," said the Harvester. "Now see if you think this is
pretty."

He indicated the hill sloping toward the lake. The path wound among
massive trees, between whose branches patches of moonlight filtered.
Around the lake shore and climbing the hill were thickets of bushes.
The water lay shining in the light, a gentle wind ruffled the surface
in undulant waves, and on the opposite bank arose the line of big
trees. Under a giant oak widely branching, on the top of the hill, the
Harvester spread the rug and held one end of it against the tree trunk
to protect the Girl's dress. Then he sat a little distance away and
began to talk. He mingled some sense with a quantity of nonsense, and
appreciated every hint of a laugh he heard. The day had been no amusing
matter for a girl absolutely alone among strange people and scenes.
Anything more foreign to her previous environment or expectations he
could not imagine. So he talked to prevent her from thinking, and worked
for a laugh as he laboured for bread.

"Now we must go," he said at last. "If there is the malaria I strongly
suspect in your system, this night air is none too good for you. I only
wanted you to see the lake the first night in your new home, and if it
won't shock you, I brought you here because this is my holy of holies.
Can you guess why I wanted you to come, Ruth?"

"If I wasn't so stupid with alternate burning and chills, and so
deadened to every proper sensibility, I suppose I could," she answered,
"but I'm not brilliant. I don't know, unless it is because you knew it
would be the loveliest place I ever saw. Surely there is no other spot
in the world quite so beautiful."

"Then would it seem strange to you," asked the Harvester going to the
Girl and gently putting his arms around her, "would it seem strange to
you, that a woman who once homed here and thought it t