rk upon her face, but had
not extinguished her beauty. All rose from the table. Harry walked toward
her. She advanced to meet him. Face to face, they stopped and looked into
each other's eyes. The moment long desired, the moment endeared and
sublimated by the dreams of both, the moment toward which their thoughts
had been wont to hasten, after the cares of the day, like brooks coming
down from the mountains, had arrived suddenly. She was in a way prepared
for it. She had taken thought of what she would do and say. He had not.
Still it made no difference. This little point of time had been so filled
with the power which had flowed into it out of their souls there was no
foretelling what they would do when it touched them. Scarcely a second of
that moment was wasted in hesitation, as a matter of fact. Quickly they
fell into each other's embrace, and the depth of their feeling we may
guess when we read in the diary of the rugged and rather stoical Samson
that no witness of the scene spoke or moved "until I turned my back upon
it for shame of my tears."

Soon Bim came and kissed Samson's cheek and said:

"I am not going to make trouble. I couldn't help this. I heard what he
said to you last night. It made me happy in spite of all my troubles. I
love him but above all I shall try to keep his heart as clean and noble
as it has always been. I really meant to be very strong and upright. It
is all over now. Forgive us. We are going to be as respectable as--as we
can."

Samson pressed her hand and said:

"You came with the slaves and I guess you heard our talk in the wagon."

"Yes, I came with the slaves, and was as black as either of them. We
had all suffered. I should have come alone, but they had been good and
faithful to me. I could not bear to leave them to endure the violence of
that man. We left together one night when he was in a drunken stupor. We
took a boat to Alton and caught The Star of the North to Beardstown--they
traveling as my servants. There I hired a team and wagon. It brought us
to the grove near your house."

"Why did you disguise yourself before you came in?"

"I longed to see Harry, but I did not want him to see me. I did not know
that he would care to see me," she answered. "I longed to see all of
you."

"Isn't that like Bim?" Samson asked.

"I am no longer the fool I was," she answered. "It was not just a
romantic notion. I wanted to share the lot of a runaway slave for a few
days and know wha