there was the stillness of death
over all. Gradually the silence communicated itself to the girls, and
the pauses in their chatter grew longer and their eyes more
thoughtful. Even their horses for the most part stood idly by. The
green grass had but a passing attraction for them. They nibbled at it
occasionally, it is true, but with apparently little appetite. After
dinner the two friends spread their saddle-blankets upon the grass,
and stretched themselves thereon in attitudes of comfort, from which
they could look out across the shining surface of the lake; and soon
their talk almost entirely ceased. Then, for a while, they lay
dreaming the time away in happy waking dreams of the future.

Alice had bridged for a moment the miles which divided Owl Hoot
from Ainsley, and her thoughts were with her sturdy lover, Robb
Chillingwood. She was contemplating their future together, that
future which would contain for them, if no great ease and luxury, at
least the happiness of a perfect love and mutual assistance in
times of trial. Her practical mind did not permit her to gaze on
visionary times of prosperity and rises to position, but rather she
considered their present trifling income, and what they two could
do with it. Now and again she sighed, not with any feeling of
discontent, but merely at the thought of her own inability to
augment her future husband's resources. She was in a serious mood,
and pondered long upon these, to her, all-important things.

Prudence's thoughts were of a very different nature, although she too
was dreaming of the man whom her sudden realization had brought so
pronouncedly into her life. Her round dark face was clouded with a
look of sore perplexity, and at first the dominant note of her
reflections was her blindness to the real state of her own feelings.
Now everything was clear to her of the manner in which George Iredale
had steadily grown into her daily life, and how her own friendly
liking for him had already ripened into something warmer. He was so
quiet, so undemonstrative, so good and kind. She saw now how she had
grown accustomed to look for and abide by his decisions in matters
which required more consideration than she could give--matters which
were beyond her. She understood the strong, reliant nature which
underlaid the quiet exterior. And now, when she came to think of it,
in all the days of her grown womanhood he had ever been near her,
seeking her society always. There was jus