way from the
hills to the sea. As time went on, their branches became so thickly
interlaced that you could scarcely tell one from the other.

"Around them sprang up half a dozen or more smaller trees, sheltered,
brooded over, and faithfully watched by these two with the interlaced
branches. The young trees grew straight and tall, but when they were not
quite half grown, a man came and cut them all down for Christmas trees.

"When he took them away, the forest was strangely desolate to these two,
who now stood alone. When the Daughters of Dawn opened wide the gates of
darkness, and the Lord of Light fared forth upon the sea, they saw it
not. When it was high noon, and there were no shadows, even upon the
hill, it seemed that they might lift up their heads, but they only
twined their branches more closely together. When all the flaming
tapestry of heaven was spread in the West, they leaned nearer to each
other, and sighed.

[Sidenote: Bereft]

"When the night wind stirred their boughs to faint music, it was like
the moan of a heart that refuses to be comforted. When Spring danced
through the forest, leaving flowers upon her way, while all the silences
were filled with life and joy, these two knew it not, for they were
bereft.

"Mating calls echoed through the woods, and silver sounds dripped like
rain from the maples, but there was no love-song in the boughs of the
pines. The birds went by, on hushed wings, and built their nests far
away.

"When the maples put on the splendid robes of Autumn, the pines, more
gaunt and desolate than ever, covered the ground with a dense fabric of
needles, lacking in fragrance. When the winds grew cool, and the Little
People of the Forest pattered swiftly through the dead and scurrying
leaves, there was no sound from the pines. They only waited for the end.

"When storm swept through the forest and the other trees bowed their
heads in fear, these two straightened themselves to meet it, for they
were not afraid. Frightened birds took refuge there, and the Little
People, with wild-beating hearts, crept under the spreading boughs to be
sheltered.

"Vast, reverberating thunders sounded from hill to hill, and the sea
answered with crashing surges that leaped high upon the shore. Suddenly,
from the utter darkness, a javelin of lightning flashed through the
pines, but they only trembled and leaned closer still.

"One by one, with the softness of falling snow, the leaves dropped upon
t