er. With
such marvellous swiftness does love work that, when his mother bade him
go "pay his duty to the minister," his heart responded with so great a
leap of joy that he found himself glancing quickly at the faces of those
about him, sure that they must have noticed.

And now he was on his way to Margaret. It was as if he had to make
acquaintance of her. He wondered how she would greet him and he wondered
what he should say to her. What would she be doing now? He glanced at
his watch. It was just ten o'clock. The morning work would be done. She
might come for a little stroll in the woods at the back of the manse,
but he would say nothing to her to-day. He would wait and watch to read
her heart. He sprang up the bank, that ran along beside the fence, to go
on his way. A gleam of white through the snake fence against the pink
of the clover caught his eye. Under the thorn tree--he knew the spot
well--and upon the grass, lay a girl. "By Jove!" he whispered, his heart
stopping, thumping, then rushing, "it is Margaret." He would creep up
and surprise her. The deep grass deadened his footfalls. He was close
to her. He held his breath. She lay asleep, one arm under her head, the
other flung wide in an abandonment of weariness. He stood gazing down
upon her. Pale she looked to him, and thin and weary. The lines about
her mouth and eyes spoke of cares and of griefs, too. How much older she
was than he had thought! "Poor girl! she has been having a hard time!
It's a shame, a downright shame! And she's only a child yet!" At the
thought of her long sacrifice for those three past years a great pity
stole into his heart. At that touch of pity the love that had ever
filled his heart, dammed back for so long by his regard for his
brother's rights, suddenly finding its new channel, burst forth and
swept like a torrent through his being. He lost grip of himself and,
before he knew, he had bent over the sleeping girl and kissed her lips.
A long shivering sigh shook her. "Barney," she murmured, a slight smile
playing about her lips. She opened her eyes. A moment she lay looking up
into Dick's face, then, suddenly wide awake, she sat upright.

"You! Dick!" she cried, surprise, indignation, shame, mingling in her
voice. "You--you dare to--"

"Yes, Margaret," said Dick, aghast at what he had done, "I couldn't help
it. You looked so sweet and so sad, and--and I love you so much."

"You," cried the girl again, as if she could find no other