t 'u'd satisfy me. I'd still be hankerin'
an' thirstin' arter somethin' that I couldn't have. There's been a
feelin' in my heart, ever sence I come here, that'll take th' air o' th'
mountings to cl'ar away. Like enough, up there among th' wild things
that love me, amongst th' rocks an' hills, I'll find th' rest an' peace
I ain't had since I come away."

The youth looked at her with wide, worried eyes. He had not thought the
situation out in any very careful detail; but he had, at no time,
contemplated her immediate departure. Now that it seemed imminent it
brought his feelings to a focus, showed him, instantly, that he could
not bear to have this mountain maiden who had done so much for him thus
vanish from his life. A realization that he loved her deeply, tenderly,
unchangeably rushed over him. That she was a child of nature, uneducated
and unaccustomed to the world he knew became a matter of but small
importance to him as he stood there watching her, while, sadly but
deliberately, she kept on with her work of packing in the carpet-bag her
small possessions and the many gifts which she had purchased in the city
for the children of her "mountings." That the world which he had ever
thought his world might laugh at her and ridicule him if he married her
he knew, but, suddenly, this seemed of little consequence. The errors in
her education could be readily corrected and her heart and instincts
were more nearly right, already, than those of any lowland girl whom he
had ever known.

"Madge," he cried, "I cannot give you up! I love you!"

The girl's hands stopped their busy work among the bundles. Her cheeks
paled and her lips parted to a gasping little intake of breath. It had
not, once, occurred to her modest, self-sacrificing mind that, even as
the bluegrass gentleman had found her heart and taken it forever and
forever to be his own, no matter where she was or how great might the
distance be which separated them, so, also, had his heart really and
forever passed to her, the simple, unlettered and untrained little
maiden of the wilderness. It seemed impossible, incredible.

"You love me!"

"Yes, I love you as I never have, as I never can love any other woman.
Madge, dearest, I want you for my wife!"

The great desire, the certainty that if he did not win her then all
other triumphs would be empty, meaningless, had come suddenly upon him,
but it had come with overwhelming force. His voice was vibrant with a
passion w