of their
fathers, moaned through the winter nights, making the shanty ring with
their piteous plaints! How many times Tessibel had imagined that she had
seen the headless man from Haytes' Corner flit from the shadows of the
long lane and lose himself in the overhanging willows on the shore!

Suddenly a foreign sound pierced the storm. Tessibel drew near Teola.
Both girls were standing over the wooden box. The violence of the storm
impelled them to grasp each other's hands. In through the broken window
the strange sound was borne again.

"A boat's a-beatin' agin the shore," said Tess quietly. "Some one air
a-comin' in out of the rain."

The words were only formed on her lips when the door opened abruptly.
Tessibel turned her head; Teola dropped her hand and uttered a cry.
Frederick Graves, with his fingers upon the door, was closing it against
the fury of the storm.

CHAPTER XXXII

"You didn't mind my running in, did you, Tessibel?" asked Frederick,
turning toward the squatter with a broad, comrade-like smile. Then he
noticed his sister, with surprise.

"Ah, Teola! you, too, were caught in the storm? What a blessing to have
a shelter like this! Miss Tessibel won't mind if we stay until it is
over. I came home before I was expected. I almost wish, now, that I had
waited until morning. But I am safe here, though.... Whew! it is a
terrible night."

The distance between Teola and Tessibel widened perceptibly. Neither
girl attempted to speak, and the student smiled at the embarrassment
upon his sister's face. He made to go toward her.

"You needn't mind being here, dear," he said in a low tone. "I don't
believe as Father and Mother do. I shouldn't ask for you to be in a
better place than this hut."

He turned his face toward the roof, letting his eyes sweep the cobwebbed
net, the old coats upon the wall; and lastly to the stove, out of the
top of which jutted the smoking knot.

"There is here," he continued impressively, "a feeling of rest and
contentment to me.... I believe, Tessibel Skinner, that your faith
permeates every inch of it."

He lifted the lid of the stove, and shoved the smouldering wood from
sight. His deep voice came again to Tessibel's ears as if from afar:

"I wish I could impress upon my father what it means to pray and be good
and pure under such circumstances as surround you. I mean, you know,
Tess"--here he turned squarely upon her--"I mean that, for one so young,
you have purity