ay? Will
we stop to recount the sorrows through which we climbed to the shining
heights? No, they will be forgotten in the excess of joy!"

Darrell gazed at Kate in astonishment; her head was uncovered and the
rays of the sinking sun touched with gleams of gold the curling locks
which the breeze had blown about her face, till they seemed like a
golden halo; she had the look of one who sees within the veil which
covers mortal faces; she seemed at that moment something apart from
earth.

Taking her hand in his, he asked, brokenly, "Sweetheart, will that day
ever come, and when?"

Her eyes, luminous with love and hope, rested tenderly upon his shadowed
face as she replied,--

"At the time appointed,

"'And that will be
God's own good time, for you and me.'"

_Chapter XIX_

THE RETURN TO CAMP BIRD

The day preceding Darrell's departure found him busily engaged in
"breaking camp," as he termed it. The assayer's outfit which he had
brought from the mill was to be packed, as were also his books, and
quantities of carefully written notes, the results of his explorations
and experiments, to be embodied later in the work which he had in
preparation, were to be sorted and filed.

Late in the afternoon Kate and her aunt, down town on a shopping tour,
looked in upon him.

"Buried up to his ears!" Kate announced at the door, as she caught a
glimpse of Darrell's head over a table piled high with books and
manuscripts; "it's well we came when we did, auntie; a few minutes later
and he would have been invisible!"

"Don't take the trouble to look for seats, Mr. Darrell," she added, her
eyes dancing with mischief as he hastily emerged and began a futile
search for vacant chairs, "we only dropped in for a minute, and
'standing room only' will be sufficient."

"Yes, don't let us hinder you, Mr. Darrell," said Mrs. Dean; "we just
came in to see how you were getting on, and to tell you not to trouble
yourself about the things from the house; we will send and get them
whenever we want them."

"I was thinking of those a while ago," Darrell answered, glancing at the
pictures and hangings which had not yet been removed; "I was wondering
if I ought not to send them up to the house."

"No," said Mrs. Dean, "we do not need them there at present, and any
time we should want them we can send Bennett down after them."

"We will not send for them at all, auntie," said Kate, in her impulsive
way; "I shall keep the