"I rode. But I am walking now--barely. This young tree is escorting me."
They went back to her shawl, which she opened and spread, making a
place for him. She moved it back a little, for safety, so that it was
under the boughs of one of the trees.
How quiet the land was, how beautiful the evening light, how sweet the
air!
Now and then a petal from some finished blossom sifted down on
Gabriella.
They were at such peace: their talk was interrupted by the long
silences which are peace.
"Gabriella, you saved my life."
"It is not I who have power over life and death."
"It was your nursing."
"It was my prayers," murmured Gabriella.
"And you gave me the will to get well: that also was a great help:
without you I should not have had that same will to live."
"It was a higher Will than yours or mine."
"And the doctor from town who stayed with me."
"And a Greater Physician who stayed also."
He made no reply for a while, but then asked, turning his face toward
her uneasily:--
"Our different ways of looking at things--will they never make any
difference with you?"
"Some day there will be no difference."
"You will agree with me?" he exclaimed joyfully.
"You will agree with me."
"Do not expect that! Do not expect that I shall ever again believe in
the old things."
"I expect you to believe in God, in the New Testament, in the
Resurrection, in the answer to prayer."
"If I do not?"
"Then you will in the Life to come."
"But will this separate us?"
"You will need me all the more."
The light was fading: they could no longer see the green of the valley.
A late bird fluttered into the boughs overhead and more petals came
down.
"It is a nest," said David, softly, "a good thing to go home to, a
night like this."
"And now," he continued, "there are matters about which I must consult
you. You will be glad to know that things are pleasanter at home. Since
my illness my father and mother have changed toward me. Sickness,
nearness to death, is a great reconciler. Your being in the house had
much to do with this--especially your influence over my mother. My
father was talked to by the doctor from town. During the days and
nights he stayed with me, he got into my trunk of books, for he is a
great reader; and--as he told me before leaving--a believer in the New
Science, an evolutionist. He knew of my expulsion, of course, and of
the reasons. I think he explained a great deal to my father, who said
to me one day simply that the doctor had talked to him."
"He talked to me, also," said Gabriella. "And did not persuade you?"
"He said I almost persuaded him!"
"And then, too, my father and I have arranged the money trouble. It is
not the best, but the best possible. When I came home from college, I
brought with me almost half the money I had accumulated. I turned this
over to my father, of course. It will go toward making necessary
repairs. But it was not enough, and the woods has had to go. The farm
shall not be sold, but the woods is rented for a term of years as hemp
land, the trees must be deadened and cut down. I am sorry; it is the
last of the forest of my great-grandfather. But with the proceeds, the
place can be put into fairly good condition, and this is the greatest
relief to my father and mother--and to me."
"It is a good arrangement."