long dining-room where the table had been
hastily cleared and moved aside, and upon which the boarders were now
seated in long rows, watching the proceedings curiously.

She was dressed in a simple white muslin, touched here and there with
exquisite hand embroidery and tiny cobwebby edges of real lace. The
missionary caught his breath as he saw her come out to him, and the
rough faces of the men softened as they watched her.

The white-haired bishop arose to meet her and welcomed her in a fatherly
way he had, and the woman who kept the stopping place came following in
Hazel's wake, hastily wiping her hands on her apron, and casting it
behind her as she entered. She had been preparing an impromptu supper
out of any materials that happened to be at hand, but she could not miss
the ceremony if the coffee did burn. Weddings did not come her way every
day.

In the doorway, his stolid face shining in the glare of many candles,
stood the Indian from the fort. He had followed silently behind the
couple to witness the proceedings, well knowing he would be forgiven by
his mistress at the fort when he told his news. The missionary was well
beloved--and the missionary was going to be married!

What would the four hundred of her own select New York circle have said
could they have seen Hazel Radcliffe standing serene, in her simple
gown, with her undecked golden hair, in the midst of that motley
company of men, with only three curious slatternly women in the
background to keep her company, giving herself away to a man who had
dedicated his life to work in the desert? But Hazel's happy heart was
serenely unconscious of the incongruity of her surroundings, and she
answered with a clear ring to her voice as the bishop asked her the
questions: "I will." She was coming gladly to her new home.

It was her own ring, the ring she had given him, that John Brownleigh
put upon her hand in token of his loyalty and love for her, the ring
that for a whole year had lain next his own heart and comforted its
loneliness because she had given it, and now he gave it back because she
had given him herself.

Graciously she placed her small white hand in the rough awkward ones of
the men who came to offer her congratulations, half stumbling over their
own feet in their awe and wonder at her beauty. It was to them as if an
angel from heaven had suddenly dropped down and condescended to walk
their daily path in sight of them all.

Cheerfully she sw