On! On once more--maybe the clump of trees hid something--maybe--

Here a light flashed--a mere speck of a light--not to the right, where
lay the clump of trees--but to my left; then a faint wave of warm color
rose from a chimney and curled over a low roof buried in snow. Again the
light flashed--this time through a window with four panes of glass--each
one a beacon to a storm-tossed mariner!

On once more--into a low hollow--up a steep slope--slipping, falling,
shoving the hand-gripped bag ahead of me to help my footing, until I
reached a snow-choked porch and a closed door.

Here I knocked.

For some seconds there was no sound; then came a heavy tread, and a man
in overalls threw wide the door.

"Well, what do you want at this time of night?" (Time of night, and it
but seven-thirty!)

"I'm the lecturer," I panted.

"Oh, come! Ain't they sent for ye? Here, I'll take 'em. Walk in and
welcome. You look beat out. Well--well--wife and I was won-derin' why
nothin' driv past for the six-ten. We knowed you was comin'. Then agin,
the station master's sick, and I 'spose ye couldn't warm up none. And
they ain't sent for ye? And they let ye tramp all--Well--well!"

I did not answer. I hadn't breath enough left for sustained
conversation; moreover, there was a red-hot stove ahead of me, and a
rocking-chair,--comforts I had never expected to see again--and there
was a pine table--oh, a lovely pine table, with a most exquisite white
oil-cloth cover, holding the most beautiful kerosene lamp with a
piece of glorious red flannel floating in its amber fluid; and in the
corner--a wife--a sweet-faced, angelic-looking young wife, with a baby
in her arms too beautiful for words--must have been!

I dropped into the chair, spread my fingers to the stove and looked
around--warmth--rest-peace--comfort--companionship--all in a minute!

"No, they didn't send anything," I wheezed when my breath came. "The
conductor told me I should find the farmhouse over the hill--and--"

"Yes, that's so; it's back a piece, you must have missed it."

"Yes--I must have missed it," I continued in a dazed way.

"The folks at the farmhouse is goin' to hear ye speak, so they told me.
Must be startin' now."

"Would you please let them know I am here, and--"

"Sure! Wait till I get on my boots! Hello!--that's him now."

Again the door swung wide. This time it let in a fur overcoat, coon-skin
cap, two gray yarn mittens, a pair of raw-beefsteak cheeks a