:

"Oh, come angel band! Oh, come, and around me stand!
Oh, bear me away on your snowy wings to my immortal home!"

He uttered a low benediction, and singing, the people turned and went
downhill. The Harvester gathered the Girl in his arms and carried her to
the lake. He laid her in his boat and taking the oars sent it along the
bank in the shade, and through cool, green places.

"Now cry all you choose!" he said.

The overstrained Girl covered her face and sobbed wildly. After a time
he began to talk to her gently, and before she realized it, she was
listening.

"Death has been kinder to her than life, Ruth," he said. "She is lying
as you saw her last, I think. We lifted her very tenderly, wrapped
her carefully, and brought her gently as we could. Now they shall rest
together, those little mothers of ours, to whom men were not kind; and
in the long sleep we must forget, as they have forgotten, and forgive,
as no doubt they have forgiven. Don't you want to take some lilies to
them before we go to the cabin? Right there on your left are unusually
large ones."

The Girl sat up, dried her eyes and gathered the white flowers. When the
last vehicle crossed the bridge, the Harvester tied the boat and helped
her up the hill. The old oak stretched its wide arms above two little
mounds, both moss covered and scattered with flowers. The Girl added her
store and then went to the Harvester, and sank at his feet.

"Ruth, you shall not!" cried the man. "I simply will not have that. Come
now, I will bring you back this evening."

He helped her to the veranda and laid her in the swing. He sat beside
her while she rested, and then they went into the cabin for supper. Soon
he had her telling what she had found, and he was making notes of what
was yet required to transform the cabin into a home. The Harvester left
it to her to decide whether he should roof the bridge the next day or
make a trip for furnishings. She said he had better buy what they
needed and then she could make the cabin homelike while he worked on the
bridge.

CHAPTER XV. THE HARVESTER INTERPRETS LIFE

They went through the rooms together, and the Girl suggested the
furnishings she thought necessary, while the Harvester wrote the list.
The following morning he was eager to have her company, but she was very
tired and begged to be allowed to wait in the swing, so again he drove
away and left her with Belshazzar on guard. When he had gone, she