esence. He promptly abandoned his task and
approached her.

"Good morning!" he called out.

She waved her hand.

"Good morning!"

"You have slept well?" he asked.

"Better, I think, than ever before in my life," she answered.
"Differently, at any rate. And such an awakening!"

He looked at her, a little puzzled. The glow upon her face and the
sunlight upon her brown hair kept him silent. He was content to look at
her and wonder.

"Tell me," she demanded impetuously, "is this a little corner of
fairy-land that you have found? Does the sun always shine like this?
Does the earth always smell as sweetly, and are your trees always in
blossom? Does your wind always taste as if God had breathed the elixir
of life into it?"

He turned around to follow the sweep of her eyes. Something of the same
glow seemed to rest for a moment upon his face.

"It is good," he said, "to find what you love so much appreciated by
some one else."

They stood together in a silence almost curiously protracted. Then the
plowman passed again with his team of horses, and John called out some
instructions to him. She followed him down to earth.

"Tell me, Mr. Strangewey," she inquired, "where are your
farm-buildings?"

"Come and I will show you," he answered, opening the gate to let her
through. "Keep close to the hedge until we come to the end of the plow;
and then--but no, I won't anticipate. This way!"

She walked by his side, conscious every now and then of his frankly
admiring eyes as he looked down at her. She herself felt all the joy of
a woman of the world imbibing a new experience. She did not even glance
toward the dismantled motor in the barn which they passed.

"I am glad," he remarked presently, "that you look upon us more
charitably than your maid."

"Aline is a good girl," Louise said, smiling, "but hot-water taps and
electric lights are more to her than sunshine and hills. Do you know,"
she went on, "I feel like a child being led through an undiscovered
country, a land of real adventures. Which way are we going, and what are
we going to see? Tell me, please!"

"Wait," he begged. "It is just a queer little corner among the hills,
that is all."

They reached the end of the plowed field, and, passing through a gate,
turned abruptly to the left and began to climb a narrow path which
bordered the boundary wall, and which became steeper every moment. As
they ascended, the orchard and the long, low house on the other sid