he
knew what he knew, and would continue to know it for some time to come.
The truth is, however, that Gabriel was as ignorant of the feminine
nature as it is possible for a young fellow to be; whereas, Nan, by
means of the instinct or intuition which heaven has conferred on her sex
for their protection, knew Gabriel a great deal better than she knew
herself.

When the war came to a close, Gabriel was nearly eighteen, and Nan was
seventeen, though she appeared to be a year or two younger. She was
still childish in her ways and tastes, and carried with her an
atmosphere of simplicity and sweetness in which very few girls of her
age are fortunate enough to move. Simplicity was a part of her nature,
though some of her young lady friends used to whisper to one another
that it was all assumed. She was even referred to as Miss Prissy, a term
that was probably intended to be an abbreviation of Priscilla.

Regularly, she used to hunt Cephas up and carry him home with her for
the afternoon; and on the other hand, Gabriel manifested a great
fondness for the little fellow, who enjoyed his enviable popularity with
a clear conscience. It was years and years afterwards before the secret
of his popularity dawned on him. If he had suspected it at the time, his
pride, such as he had, would have had a terrible fall.

One day, it was the year of Appomattox, and the month was June, Cephas
heard his name called, and answered very promptly, for the voice was the
voice of Gabriel, and it was burdened with an invitation to visit the
woods and fields that surrounded the town. The weather itself was
burdened with the same invitation. The birds sang it, and it rustled in
the leaves of the trees. And Cephas leaped from the house, glad of any
excuse to escape from the domestic task at which he had been set. They
wandered forth, and became a part and parcel of the wild things. The
hermit thrush, with his silver bell, was their brother, and the
cat-bird, distressed for the safety of her young, was their sister. Yea,
and the gray squirrel was their playmate, a shy one, it is true, but
none the less a genuine one for all that. They roamed about the
green-wood, and over the hills and fields, and finally found themselves
in the public highway that leads to Malvern.

Cephas found a cornstalk, and with hardly an effort of his mind, changed
it into a fine saddle-horse. The contagion seized Gabriel, and though he
was close upon his eighteenth birthday,