are. After the one thunderstorm, came one or two lovely
serene summer days, during which the hay was all carried; and then
succeeded long soft rains filling the ears of corn, and causing the
mown grass to spring afresh. The minister allowed himself a few more
hours of relaxation and home enjoyment than usual during this wet
spell: hard earth-bound frost was his winter holiday; these wet days,
after the hay harvest, his summer holiday. We sate with open windows,
the fragrance and the freshness called out by the soft-falling rain
filling the house-place; while the quiet ceaseless patter among the
leaves outside ought to have had the same lulling effect as all other
gentle perpetual sounds, such as mill-wheels and bubbling springs, have
on the nerves of happy people. But two of us were not happy. I was sure
enough of myself, for one. I was worse than sure,--I was wretchedly
anxious about Phillis. Ever since that day of the thunderstorm there
had been a new, sharp, discordant sound to me in her voice, a sort of
jangle in her tone; and her restless eyes had no quietness in them; and
her colour came and went without a cause that I could find out. The
minister, happy in ignorance of what most concerned him, brought out
his books; his learned volumes and classics. Whether he read and talked
to Phillis, or to me, I do not know; but feeling by instinct that she
was not, could not be, attending to the peaceful details, so strange
and foreign to the turmoil in her heart, I forced myself to listen, and
if possible to understand.

'Look here!' said the minister, tapping the old vellum-bound book he
held; 'in the first Georgic he speaks of rolling and irrigation, a
little further on he insists on choice of the best seed, and advises us
to keep the drains clear. Again, no Scotch farmer could give shrewder
advice than to cut light meadows while the dew is on, even though it
involve night-work. It is all living truth in these days.' He began
beating time with a ruler upon his knee, to some Latin lines he read
aloud just then. I suppose the monotonous chant irritated Phillis to
some irregular energy, for I remember the quick knotting and breaking
of the thread with which she was sewing. I never hear that snap
repeated now, without suspecting some sting or stab troubling the heart
of the worker. Cousin Holman, at her peaceful knitting, noticed the
reason why Phillis had so constantly to interrupt the progress of her
seam.

'It is bad thr