The light of the whole room seemed not so much to gather upon
her, as to radiate from her.

The dog reached her first. Outdoor exercise, careful diet, perfect
grooming, had kept Kerry in fine shape. His age told only in an added
dignity, a slower movement.

The girl went down on her knees, and hugged him. Pitache, aroused by
Kerry's unwonted demonstrations, circled about them, rushing in every
now and then to bestow an indiscriminate lick.

"Why, it's Mary Virginia!" exclaimed Laurence, and helped her to her
feet. The two regarded each other, mutually appraising. He towered
above her, head and shoulders, and I thought with great satisfaction
that, go where she would, she could nowhere find a likelier man than
this same Laurence of ours. Like David in his youth, he was ruddy and
of a beautiful countenance.

"Why, Laurence! What a Jack-the-Giant-killer! Mercy, how big the boy's
grown!"

"Why, Mary Virginia! What a heart-smasher! Mercy, how pretty the
girl's grown!" he came back, holding her hand and looking down at her
with equally frank delight. "When I remember the pigtailed, leggy,
tonguey minx that used to fetch me clumps over the head--and then
regard this beatific vision--I'm afraid I'll wake up and you'll be
gone!"

"If you'll kindly give me back my hand, I might be induced to fetch
you another clump or two, just to prove my reality," she suggested,
with a delightful hint of the old truculence.

"'T is she! This is indeed none other than our long-lost child!"
burbled Laurence. "Lordy, I wish I could tell her how more than good
it is to see her again--and to see her as she is!"

Now all this time John Flint had stood in the doorway; and when my
mother beckoned him forward, he came, I fancied, a bit unwillingly.
His limp was for once painfully apparent, and whether from the
day-long tramp, or from some slight indisposition, he was very pale;
it showed under his deep tan.

But I was proud of him. His manner had a pleasant shyness, which was a
tribute to the young girl's beauty. It had as well a simple dignity.
And one was impressed by the fine and powerful physique of him, so
lean and springy, so boyishly slim about the hips and waist, so deeply
stamped with clean living of days in the open, of nights under the
stars. The features had thinned and sharpened, and his red beard
became him; the hair thinning on the temples increased the breadth of
the forehead, and behind his glasses the piercing blue eyes--so