and what do you say now?" asked the trees expectantly.

Olof stepped from stem to stem, counting the fallen. There were forty
in all--and he laughed.

"I shall be here again to-morrow, anyhow," he said gaily.

"If you come to-morrow, then you will come again till it's done," said
the trees. "Come, and be welcome!"

* * * * *

Olof walked home whistling cheerfully; he felt as if the house were
already built up round him. It was a great thing, enough to take up
all his thoughts, and strong enough in itself to strengthen him anew.

WAYS THAT MEET

"HIRVIYOKI, KYLANPAA, 28/9/97.

"Kyllikki,--You will be surprised, no doubt, to hear from me
again after so many years. I am not sure of your address,
and do not even know if you are still 'Kyllikki,' or possibly
someone with another name that I do not know. I am too proud
to ask news of you from any but yourself.

"And now to what I have to say. I have never been able to free
myself from you quite, however much I wished. I have tried to
forget you, to wipe away all trace of you from my soul, but in
spite of everything you have followed me from place to place,
year after year, and now, just lately, you have been ever
before my eyes. Was it your friendship that followed me so, or
my own guilty conscience--or perhaps my better self that has
been longing for you, and silently calling for you, though I
tried to stifle the voice?

"I do not know. I only know that my years of wandering are
over now, and I have come to settle down in my own place. I
may freely confess that I was weary and broken down, worn out
and hopeless, when I came home--to see my mother for the last
time, and follow her to the grave. And I cannot say, even now,
that I am much better, though perhaps a little. I can feel
something in me that seems to grow, something that gives me
hope. So perhaps it is not altogether lost.

"I am building myself a house, and have other plans of a like
sort. But there is one thing I miss, and the lack of it grows
stronger every day: a friend and comrade, one that I could
respect and trust entirely. Not one to share my good fortune,
but one to be with me in toil and want.

"Kyllikki, you can never guess how I have suffered in doubt
and questioning of late. Have I any right at all to hope for
comradeship? Could I p