supposed that another fire had been lighted somewhere in the interior of
her mental organism. Her fine eyes glistened, her cheeks gently reddened,
and her whole body became animated with an energy created by warm
emotions.

"I have something I wish to say to you all," she exclaimed, as she reached
the fire. "Where is Arthur? Will somebody please call him? And I would
like to see both the guides. It is something very important that I have to
say. Mrs. Perkenpine will be here in a moment; I asked her to come. If Mr.
Matlack is not quite ready, can he not postpone what he is doing? I am
sure you will all be interested in what I have to say, and I do not want
to begin until every one is here."

Mr. Archibald saw that she was very much in earnest, and so he sent for
the guides, and Clyde went to call Raybold.

In a few minutes Clyde returned and told Corona that her brother had said
he did not care to attend services that evening.

"Where is he?" asked Miss Raybold.

"He is sitting over there looking out upon the lake," replied Clyde.

"I will be back almost immediately," said she to Mr. Archibald, "and in
the mean time please let everybody assemble."

Arthur Raybold was in no mood to attend services of any sort. He had spent
nearly the whole day trying to get a chance to speak to Margery, but never
could he find her alone.

"If I can once put the matter plainly to her," he said to himself, "she
will quickly perceive what it is that I offer her; and when she clearly
sees that, I will undertake to make her accept it. She is only a woman,
and can no more withstand me than a mound of sand built by a baby's hand
could withstand the rolling wave."

At this moment Corona arrived and told him that she wanted him at the
camp-fire. He was only a man, and could no more withstand her than a mound
of sand built by a baby's hand could withstand the rolling wave.

When everybody in the camp had gathered around the fire, Corona, her
eye-glasses illumined by the light of her soul, gazed around the circle
and began to speak.

"My dear friends," she said, "I have been thinking a great deal to-day
upon a very important subject, and I have come to the conclusion that we
who form this little company have before us one of the grandest
opportunities ever afforded a group of human beings. We are here, apart
from our ordinary circumstances and avocations, free from all the trammels
and demands of society, alone with nature and ourselves