what
relaxed.

"But did he ever suffer like this?" he questioned.

"Surely you know what he endured."

"Ay, ay, I have read it all. But look, I could bear all that easier
than this. I could stand to have my body torn to pieces bit by bit
rather than see my darling child, my baby, injured. Was His suffering
anything like mine?"

"'God so loved the world that he gave his only Begotten Son,'" Douglas
quoted. "Have you forgotten what He said?"

Joe made no reply. A great struggle was going on in his heart between
right and wrong, and Douglas pitied him. Just then the sound of some
one hurrying across the field diverted their attention. In a moment
Empty had leaped the fence and stopped suddenly before them. He was
startled to see the two men standing there, and peered intently into
their faces.

"Gee!" he exclaimed. "Ye nearly jolted me to slivers."

"Empty, have you seen my Jean?" Joe eagerly enquired.

"Sure. She's out on the hills. I was jist hustlin' to tell ye."

"On the hills!" Joe repeated. "What is she doing but there?"

"Search me! I don't know what she's doin' there, an' I guess she
doesn't."

"W-what do you mean?" There was an anxious note in the old man's voice.

"Well, she's been wanderin' round there fer some time now, talkin' to
herself strange like, an' singin'. She gives me the shivers, that's
what she does. It ain't nat'ral fer Jean to be actin' that way. Ye'd
better come an' see fer yerself."

Silently the two men followed Empty across the field, and up the side
of a hill. At the top was a fence, and as they came to this, Empty
paused and peered cautiously through the rails, and held up a warning
finger.

"S-s-h," he whispered. "There she is now. Ye kin jist see her. She's
comin' this way. Listen; she's singin'!"

This hill had been used as a sheep pasture for many years. It was a
desolate place, devoid of trees, and full of stones. Looking across
this barren waste, Douglas was soon able to detect the form of a woman
silhouetted against the sky. Yes, she was singing, and he was able to
recognise the words:

"Truer love can never be;
Will ye no come back to me?"

Joe could now restrain himself no longer. With the cry of "Jean!
Jean!" he scrambled over the fence, and made straight for the advancing
woman. Empty was about to follow, when Douglas laid a firm hand upon
his arm and drew him back.

"Don't go yet," he ordered. "It's better for us to keep