^TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTfTJ* 
 
 LIBRARY OF 
 
 W. E. FIELD 
 
 V 
 
 LI' 4
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES
 
 THE SPIRIT OF 
 THE PINES 
 
 BY 
 
 MARGARET MORSE 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & COMPANY 
 
 (be fltoersibE press, Cambribrje 
 1906
 
 COPYRIGHT 1906 BY MARGARET F. MORSE 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 Published Februar
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF E. H. D. 
 
 JL 1 -
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 I. THE MEETING OF THE WAYS . . I 
 II. LETTERS 13 
 
 in. "LIGHT BETWEEN THE TREES" . 99
 
 THE MEETING OF THE WAYS
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 jjOU surely cannot refuse a traveler 
 shelter from so pitiless a storm ! " 
 " Tou surely cannot intrude when 
 I tell you that I wish to be alone ! " 
 " I regret forcing myself upon your un- 
 willing hospitality, but the water is rising 
 rapidly, and I am in danger of drowning." 
 
 Outside in the rain and darkness stood the 
 man, his coat-collar buttoned tightly about 
 his throat, his hat pulled over his eyes. In- 
 side, framed by the low doorway, the slender 
 black-robed figure of the girl was silhouetted 
 against the light. 
 
 " The situation would be tragic if it were 
 not so humorous," the man resumed. Then 
 he broke off, shaken by a violent attack of 
 coughing. 
 
 The girl sprang across the narrow hall, un- 
 
 3
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 chained and flung open the half-closed door. 
 The wind swept roughly past her, and the 
 rain struck her with angry force. 
 
 " Why did n't you tell me," she cried, 
 " that you were " 
 
 " Dying ? " the man asked. "It scarcely 
 seemed necessary in the face of such a storm. 
 Take care ! you '11 spoil your gown." 
 
 The girl was feeling of his coat with quick, 
 nervous fingers, and her skirt trailed in a pool 
 of water. 
 
 " You 'd better leave me on the mat to 
 drip," he advised. 
 
 " You shall go directly upstairs and put 
 on dry clothes, then come down to the fire," 
 she ordered. 
 
 A door leading from the kitchen was thrown 
 open, and the bustling farmer's wife appeared. 
 
 " I was sure I heard the front door," she 
 exclaimed triumphantly, " but Steve and the 
 children thought 't was only the wind. Why, 
 Master David ! " the big stranger was 
 suddenly gathered into a pair of motherly 
 4
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 arms. " You knew where to come, did n't 
 you ! " 
 
 " Indeed I did, Nurse, though they as- 
 sured me at the station that you ' had comp'ny 
 and couldn't accommodate me.' I thought 
 you would surely put me up for the night," 
 he ended rather wearily. 
 
 " You shall stay as long as ever you like," 
 the woman told him. 
 
 Then she broke off suddenly with a quick 
 glance at the dark figure in the doorway. 
 
 " Oh, I forgot ! " she ended helplessly, 
 "And you two children don't even know 
 each other. Miss North Dr. Leigh- 
 ton." 
 
 The girl put out her hand eagerly. " We 
 feel like old friends already, Nursie dear," 
 she said. " We 've been so disagreeable to 
 each other. At least, it was I, of course, who 
 was selfish and hateful and tried to send Dr. 
 Leighton away. Now I 'm sorry, so please 
 let him stay as long as he likes." 
 
 *' You know how she 's always tyrannized 
 
 5
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 over me ! " their hostess declared to the new- 
 comer. " She made me promise " 
 
 " Never mind, Nursie. Anyway it 's all 
 your fault because you spoiled me. Now we 
 must take care of Dr. Leigh ton. He 's cold, 
 and he V she stopped abruptly "wet," 
 she concluded. Something in the man's dark 
 eyes forbade her saying " ill." 
 
 The farmer appeared in the kitchen door- 
 way, then strode forward with hearty greeting, 
 and a troop of children surrounded Leigh- 
 ton, until their mother drove them laughingly 
 away. 
 
 " Go and help get supper, the whole pack 
 of you! " she commanded cheerfully. " Now 
 come, hurry upstairs, Master David." 
 
 " I feel seven years old again," laughed 
 the man, as he obediently followed her. 
 
 A merry confusion ensued. The hitherto 
 quiet household awoke to a new sense of life 
 and importance. 
 
 The fire in Constance North's little sitting- 
 6
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 room had burned low, and a rosy light sur- 
 rounded the girl in her high-backed chair, 
 and the man who, from the opposite side 
 of the chimney corner, contentedly watched 
 her. 
 
 " Is n't it odd ? " Constance remarked, 
 staring into the embers. "If you and I had 
 met at a dance to-night, we probably should 
 have thought it quite an occasion two idol- 
 ized children of one nurse, meeting at last." 
 
 " Probably," the man agreed, " and we 
 should have talked a lot of twaddle about its 
 being a coincidence, I don't doubt." 
 
 " And we meet in the wilds of New Hamp- 
 shire and sit here by the fire, like two old 
 cronies who have known each other a life- 
 time." 
 
 "Little things seem big down there in 
 the world," the man mused. " Up here big 
 things seem little." 
 
 He turned from the girl to the fire. 
 " One's personal troubles, for instance, sink 
 into insignificance." 
 
 7
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 "I wish I could feel it so!" Constance 
 cried. " Mine seem only the more vivid." 
 
 Leighton cast a swift glance at the black 
 gown. " I 'm sorry," he said. "We 're both 
 in trouble. Perhaps we can help each other." 
 
 " I 've been helped to-night roused out 
 of my selfish idleness," Constance admitted. 
 
 " And you really would have driven me 
 out into the storm ? " 
 
 " Do you know why ? You stood there in 
 the shadow, a great broad-shouldered figure. 
 I actually resented your strength and your 
 independence. Then I heard you cough " 
 
 The man fidgeted. " Absurdly incongru- 
 ous," he murmured. Then he laughed. 
 "Why is it, I wonder," he asked quizzically, 
 " that a girl always feels obliged to abuse an 
 able-bodied man ; often he positively pines 
 for pity, while the really unfortunate " 
 He broke off abruptly. 
 
 "She likes to be needed," Constance said. 
 " It was always the forlorn doll without hair 
 or clothes, whom other children shunned, that 
 8
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 I loved best. Then there was the homely 
 kitten, and the delicate puppy. I believe I 
 would caress a sick porcupine." 
 
 " Doubtless ! " laughed Leighton, " and 
 not even know when it pricked you." 
 
 " I have always foreseen that I shall marry 
 a querulous cripple, and end my days fetch- 
 ing and carrying for him," Constance re- 
 sumed. 
 
 " That would be nice for the cripple and 
 rather beneficial for you. Do you know," 
 he said presently, as the girl did not speak, 
 " we never could have met at that dance. It 
 was always meant that we should meet here. 
 Fate has been saving up a pleasant little sur- 
 prise for all these years." 
 
 " Oh ! " Constance exclaimed sympathet- 
 ically, "that is my way of looking at things. 
 I did n't know it was yours." 
 
 " Surely you must allow even a realist the 
 luxury of an occasional dream," the man re- 
 turned. " I suppose we all are given two 
 sides to keep one from wearing threadbare." 
 9
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 The girl rose. " Since we understand each 
 other, there is something I wish to show 
 you," she said. 
 
 She took from a drawer of the desk a 
 small oval frame and put it in his hand. 
 The man found himself smiling involunta- 
 rily into the sunny, upturned face of a child. 
 At last he lifted his eyes from the miniature 
 to the girl who stood staring into the fire. 
 
 " So this is what you have lost," he said 
 slowly. 
 
 " This is what I have lost," she repeated 
 
 Suddenly she turned and faced him, her 
 hands clenched tightly before her. "He was 
 all I lived for," she said. " Why must I live 
 without him ? " 
 
 Leighton leaned his arm against the chim- 
 ney-piece and looked at her musingly. 
 
 " We all ask ignorant questions," he said. 
 
 " Only yesterday I was saying, ( Why must 
 
 I die ? ' I felt quite abused when the doctor 
 
 ordered me to Colorado, and grudgingly al- 
 
 10
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 lowed me a few weeks here. It was a partic- 
 ularly mellow day, and somehow I felt that 
 the world was rather a good place." 
 
 Constance was resting her chin in her hand, 
 and the light fell across her clear profile. 
 
 "You have beauty and health," he re- 
 marked contemplatively. 
 
 The girl did not look up. 
 
 ' Where is the use of the lip's red charm, 
 The heaven of hair, the pride of the brow ? " 
 
 She murmured more to herself than to him. 
 
 Then they both stared in silence into the 
 embers. At last the man stirred. " Listen," 
 he said. 
 
 The rain was beating relentlessly upon the 
 roof, and the wind howled. 
 
 Constance raised her head. 
 
 "They both want it all their own way, 
 don't they ! " she said understandingly. 
 " Hear how the wind is protesting, and it 
 does n't do him a bit of good, poor old 
 thing." 
 
 For some time they sat together in the red 
 ii
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 glow a magic circle apart from the world 
 of reality. At length the girl rose and lighted 
 her candle. 
 
 "Good-night," she said, putting out her 
 hand. " To-morrow we can begin again." 
 
 The man smiled into her eyes. 
 
 " To-morrow we can begin where we Ve 
 left off," he answered. " Good-night."
 
 II 
 
 LETTERS
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 DAVID TO CONSTANCE 
 
 FRIDAY. 
 DEAR FELLOW TRAVELER : 
 
 (OOD-MORNING and what a 
 good morning it is ! I trust you 
 are drawing this glorious Octo- 
 ber air deep into your lungs, and 
 with every breath thanking fortune that you 
 are alive and likely to keep on living. They 
 have bundled me up like a mummy and set 
 me out on my balcony, where the sun lies 
 warm and bright. Powerless to resist, I must 
 sit here till burned to a cinder, if they chance 
 to forget me. So this is the penalty I pay for 
 that short battle with the elements yesterday. 
 Solitary confinement for at least a fortnight. 
 The walk in the storm is what I 'm alluding 
 
 '5
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 to. It was your blessed fire that saved me 
 from ruin. Did you see that big man who 
 went out just now with I am sure an ex- 
 pression of fiendish glee on his face ? When 
 I was a doctor you see, I put it in the 
 past tense, for my short period of authority 
 is over I wonder if I took such delight in 
 laying down the law to my helpless patients. 
 I suppose I did. I must n't talk, the great 
 Mogul says and how wisely ! for I have 
 no voice. I mustn't have visitors, for they 
 will excite me. He must have caught aglimpse 
 of you. But oh ! blessed omission, he has 
 said nothing about letters and so let 's write 
 to each other. Nurse Martin, who by the 
 way, does n't come under the doctor's ban, 
 promises to be postmistress, and so it only 
 remains with you to complete the arrange- 
 ment. Our correspondence lacks the spice 
 of secrecy, but perhaps it does savor of origi- 
 nality, for I never wrote letters to a girl whom 
 I had met just the evening before. Did you ? 
 to a man, I mean. 
 
 16
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 Seriously, I want to know what is happen- 
 ing in that great nature world which is yours 
 for the asking, and where I long to join you. 
 From my sky parlor I saw you pass by this 
 morning. Was the ground all springy under- 
 foot after the rain, and was the little path up 
 the mountain carpeted with pine needles and 
 fallen maple leaves ? I hope you will always 
 wear that white dress. I don't like black. I 
 thought your hair was brown till I saw it in 
 the sunshine. I hope you don't resent these 
 personal remarks. If you do you have only 
 to say so. Not that it will affect me in the 
 least, but it will soothe your feelings. 
 
 Write to me, if you will, as you talked to 
 me last night, and I will answer you, not plea- 
 santly perhaps, but or because frankly. 
 A man who has had to bear the knocks of 
 this world has learned a few truths, but of 
 what use are they unless he pass them on ? 
 
 So here is my humble beginning. It is for 
 you to say whether or not it shall continue. 
 
 D. L.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 II 
 
 CONSTANCE TO DAVID 
 
 FRIDAY EVENING. 
 DEAR PRISONER : 
 
 IO\J are generous to exonerate me, 
 but in spite of it I don't feel 
 blameless. Some one once said 
 to me, " I wish I ever knew how 
 to act thejirst time!" And I heartily echoed 
 her sentiments. In the course of human 
 events, it is hardly likely that I shall find 
 a second dripping man upon my doorstep, 
 so of what use this bitter fruit of experi- 
 ence? 
 
 I wish you had been with me this morn- 
 ing to follow the little cart-path. Do you 
 remember it ? winding through rolling pas- 
 18
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 ture land, then dipping into a young wood 
 of slender white birch. They were set there, 
 I am sure, just to make a becoming back- 
 ground for some flaming maples. High up 
 on the mountain, I stretched out among the 
 pine needles oh, so soft and springy ! 
 and stared up at the patches of sky, tiny, 
 but so blue, through the fringy tree-tops. 
 Does the sound of the wind in the pines, and 
 that hot smell, bring back long-ago, far-away 
 dreams to you ? Did you ever feel that the 
 sounds one goes to sleep with and wakes up 
 with, in childhood, influence one all through 
 life? Whenever I hear whispering pines I 
 am back in the old nursery, slipping off to 
 sleep, or dreamily waking. Do you know 
 what I longed for there ? The strength and 
 independence of those great trees. I felt like 
 a prostrate one near me, and envied him his 
 peace. He need n't straighten himself up and 
 go on living. 
 
 Poor prisoner or poor me, rather! 
 certainly it is the irony of fate that you should 
 19
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 be huddled on a balcony, while I am literally 
 steeped in nature. She merely intensifies 
 whatever mood one is in, it seems to me, 
 and this morning in her vivid array she was 
 distinctly depressing, like some proud beauty, 
 fair of face but cold of heart. 
 
 You may be wondering what I saw from 
 the top of the mountain, or if I was so blind 
 that I saw nothing. Below me, shimmery 
 hills stretched far away into the blue distance, 
 and again, below, a river threaded its way 
 through cool meadow land where white vil- 
 lages clustered. Far away, like mere specks, 
 were dotted the spires and chimneys of a 
 busy town. From my mountain-top it all 
 looked so tiny and unimportant, like a doll's 
 village which one sets out on a table to 
 amuse a child. One could scarcely believe 
 that real people, with real joys and sorrows, 
 lived there. 
 
 You wise man who have learned great 
 truths in the world, can you tell me if to the 
 angels who look down upon us, our lives 
 
 20
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 seem so utterly trivial? Then what is the 
 meaning of it all? 
 
 C. N. 
 
 I did n't know that you were spying upon 
 me from your watch tower. Thank you for 
 a timely warning.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 III 
 
 DAVID TO CONSTANCE 
 
 THE WATCH TOWER, 
 
 SATURDAY MORNING. 
 [ND so, dear Fellow-Dreamer, 
 for here, again, we are surely 
 companions, your mind loves 
 to turn toward " old, unhappy, 
 far-off things, and battles long ago." 
 
 I know of no pastime more fascinating than 
 to indulge in this shadowy remembrance 
 or more fatal. That is, granting one has defi- 
 nite work to accomplish, as most of us (thank 
 heaven !) have. 
 
 Other sounds which fill my dream-world, 
 beside the sound of the wind in the pines 
 (was n't I born and brought up among the 
 22
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 tree-tops !), are the splashing of waves on the 
 shore, and music when one is half awake. 
 
 When I was a little chap I was waked one 
 night by a woman's voice singing. I sat up 
 in bed, quivering with excitement, ready to 
 throw myself at that woman's feet, and to die 
 for her sake. It was a ridiculous little song 
 she sang, the grown-ups told me afterward 
 something about "Birdie having lost her 
 wings " and she was a tightly-laced crea- 
 ture, forced to loosen her gown when she 
 sang. Did you ever hear anything more dis- 
 enchanting? But the impression survived, 
 and to this day I recall the episode with a 
 pleasant thrill. Which all proves, I suppose, 
 that it is n't what our minds receive, but the 
 mood in which they receive it, that counts. 
 
 Not that theories matter in the least. I like 
 to swallow things unlabeled don't you ? 
 They seem less medicinal. 
 
 And so you stood on your mountain-top 
 yesterday, and the world seemed shadowy and 
 far away. A mere question of point-of-view, 
 
 23
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 I imagine, since you ask my opinion. That 
 reminds me that I Ve been climbing a little 
 mountain of my own all my life, trying to 
 get above the rush and noise, to get a good 
 perspective. I wonder if you have too, and 
 if we suddenly have perched on the top 
 together! On my peak there is no more 
 " touching things with muffled hands, and 
 seeing through a veil." We just live in the 
 sunlight. And that which down in the world 
 was called strange becomes natural, and sor- 
 row becomes bearable (I will claim no more 
 than that) because we see clearly. And bet- 
 ter still, prejudice and habit having slipped 
 away, we see each other clearly. Do you 
 suppose that is the reason we already have 
 grown to know each other as easily as chil- 
 dren do ? 
 
 You see, up here we need n't hide our feel- 
 ings under a mask of indifference. Let 's tell 
 each other our troubles, let 's help each other, 
 and let 's be happy ! It 's our birthright, and 
 nothing need take it away. 
 24
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 Did n't you put poor old Nature rather at 
 a disadvantage yesterday ? I imagine she takes 
 large views, and resents the personal attitude. 
 Besides, to be on friendly terms with her you 
 must first 
 
 " Lift up the latch 
 
 And ask your neighbor in ! " 
 
 Since I am a literal person, quite lacking 
 imagination, will you tell me if you 'd hon- 
 estly like to change places with that prostrate 
 pine ? Being unfettered has always seemed so 
 attractive to me that I am curious to know 
 your argument in favor of inanimate objects. 
 
 Will you write me about some of these 
 things ? 
 
 D. L.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 IV 
 
 CONSTANCE TO DAVID 
 
 ON PINE MOUNTAIN, 
 
 SUNDAY. 
 
 AM sitting among the pines try- 
 ing to "let Nature in," and so, 
 dear mentor, to better understand 
 her and you. Think of the pathos 
 in trying to be natural. 
 
 Your letter interested and exasperated me 
 th'e latter especially. Where, O wise man, 
 is your wisdom in condemning my " personal 
 attitude," as you coolly call it ? Surely we 
 must remind the world that we have some 
 degree of individuality meagre though it 
 be. Now, to me, feelings, thoughts, and ideas 
 are the realities of life. Another may find 
 26
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 satisfaction in adding columns of figures, and 
 in paralyzing one with his glibness at names 
 and dates. Oh, how useful information bores 
 me ! Not that I am proud of this neither 
 am I ashamed, for it is inborn with a love of 
 animals and a hatred of superficiality. 
 
 Don't you agree with me that feelings are 
 the most real part of us, and therefore worthy 
 of our profound respect? We make our- 
 selves act and speak with due propriety, but 
 our feelings are as independent as they were 
 the day we were born, if we had them then. 
 At least we had them soon after, for I am 
 cut to the heart now by the same silly things 
 that made me howl with grief at the age of 
 three. 
 
 And you say we are unfettered meaning, 
 I suppose, that we can make of ourselves 
 what we will. 
 
 Nature is in a gentle mood this morning 
 or, according to your theory, is it I who am 
 in the gentle mood, and so she is able to im- 
 
 27
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 press me in that way ? With her soft wind and 
 her caressing sunshine, she almost makes me 
 feel at peace. Almost, I say, but therein lies 
 a vast chasm. Real peace can come, it seems 
 to me, only through forgetfulness, and as 
 long as I live I must remember. Do you 
 know what it is to be eternally tortured by a 
 grief to force it from you by day only to 
 dream of it by night? You cannot, else you 
 would not be so calm. 
 
 Theories, I find, are all well enough to 
 apply to other people's troubles, but when 
 we are crushed by a great personal loss they 
 are crushed too. Even the philosopher in 
 " Rasselas " was so weakly human as to grieve 
 when his daughter died. You remember ? 
 
 The woods are filled with noonday drowsi- 
 ness. Perhaps this is an enchanted forest, and 
 under these whispering branches I may fall 
 into a dreamless sleep, and wake in a hundred 
 years. What a blessed rest it would be ! Per- 
 haps one might forget. But then you would 
 n't be here, and for that I should be sorry. 
 28
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 This I must tell you by way of encourage- 
 ment : The spirit of your mountain peak I 
 actually do feel. The chilling, mental fog 
 I remember how that phrase of Stevenson's 
 pleased me when I chanced upon it is slip- 
 ping away. 
 
 And so we will be frank with each other, 
 and you will criticise me to your heart's con- 
 tent. For that is what "telling each other 
 our troubles " will amount to, I foresee. It 
 is good of me to submit to such an agree- 
 ment, for of all things in the world I partic- 
 ularly detest criticism a sign of vanity, 
 egotism, and selfishness, I hasten to say, to 
 spoil your opportunity. 
 
 If you think me worth arguing with, keep 
 on writing to me. 
 
 C. N.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 DAVID TO CONSTANCE 
 
 THE WATCH TOWER, 
 
 MONDAY. 
 
 JY humble greetings to you, O 
 Spirit of the Pines! And so, 
 feelings, thoughts, and ideas are to 
 you the realities of life, you say. 
 The inevitable result of an introspective 
 nature, and an ample bank account, I an- 
 swer. Were it necessary for you to scrub 
 floors for a living, you would not dwell so 
 largely on things metaphysical. And inci- 
 dentally, if some one before you had not 
 " added columns of figures " rather well, you 
 would now be in no position to ignore this 
 practical side of life. 
 
 30
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 Thoughts are all very well in their way, 
 fair dreamer, but in the world of reality there 
 is prejudice in favor of accepting deeds as 
 their lawful coin. 
 
 Amiel who must, I know, be a friend 
 of yours touches upon the subject, you 
 remember? Something about its being less 
 convincing to talk of one's powers of self- 
 sacrifice than to do a simple, generous 
 deed. 
 
 The idea may be commonplace and, as 
 such, beneath your notice. 
 
 Speaking of ideas yours of falling asleep 
 for a hundred years seems to me picturesque 
 but unsatisfactory. I fear the world would 
 have journeyed on some distance during your 
 oblivion, and your equipment for fighting the 
 dragons in the path would be rusty. I wonder, 
 though, why we need challenge these responsi- 
 bilities of ours when we meet them. Suppos- 
 ing we stretched out a friendly hand and bade 
 them welcome, do you believe they would 
 prove such monsters after all ? 
 
 3 1
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 You think me harsh, unsympathetic, I 
 know but remember I have had to be a 
 practical dreamer, and so I give practical ad- 
 vice. 
 
 What meaning did the woods hold for 
 you this morning, I wonder ? Your step was 
 lighter as you passed by. But why, may I 
 ask, did you wear that black gown to-day of 
 all heaven-sent days ? 
 
 Nurse Martin has just left me after feeding 
 me like a baby. This glorious air is doing me 
 more good than all their horrid mixtures. And 
 there I get the better of them, for that thank 
 fortune can't be measured out by the spoon- 
 ful ! 
 
 I feel like a fighting cock, but have to 
 suppress my energy, for this little miserable 
 six by eight balcony admits of no war dancing. 
 For general position, however, it could n't 
 be improved upon, I admit. The clouds, the 
 shadows, the sunshine especially the sun- 
 shine ! are all mine. 
 
 Will you go on telling me your troubles 
 32
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 and not mind my roughness or rather be- 
 gin to tell me about the one great trouble ? 
 Trust me. 
 
 D. L.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 VI 
 
 CONSTANCE TO DAVID 
 
 MONDAY AFTERNOON. 
 AM afraid of you, O practical 
 dreamer ! Would you draw my 
 story from me only to tear it to 
 shreds to weigh in the balance 
 all that I hold most sacred, in order to learn 
 whether this or that paltry trouble need have 
 disturbed the even tenor of life ? 
 
 Do you realize for what you are asking ? 
 Do you understand that if I tell my story at 
 all, I must tell just what I feel, and that my 
 heart is breaking with the pain of it ? 
 
 C. N.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 VII 
 
 DAVID TO CONSTANCE 
 
 MONDAY EVENING. 
 OU forget. There is to be no fear 
 and no distrust. We both have 
 suffered, and we both understand. 
 
 D. L.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 VIII 
 
 CONSTANCE TO DAVID 
 
 MONDAY EVENING (LATE !) 
 have a wonderfully simple way 
 of putting things which makes me 
 quite ashamed. Yes, I will tell 
 you, but not to-night. To-mor- 
 row, on the mountain, under the great pines, 
 it will be easier. 
 
 The woods were beautiful and sympathetic 
 this morning, and to-day everything seemed 
 wide awake. As I struck into the wood-path 
 a little rabbit bobbed up just in front of me, 
 sat up on his hind legs a second, then catch- 
 ing sight of Sandy and me, scudded at top 
 speed into his hole. We had no murderous 
 intentions in our hearts, but that the poor 
 36
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 little beastie could n't know. I suppose they 
 must distrust us all on principle. 
 
 Sandy goes with me on all my rambles, 
 and he is the best of companions, dear old 
 thing. George Eliot was wise in saying that 
 dogs are the best of friends because they ask 
 no questions and make no criticisms. 
 
 I am so glad you are feeling better. I 
 have not asked because Nurse gives me a 
 cheerful account every day. Dear soul ! 
 Her wholesome presence must be a tonic in 
 itself. I was jealous of you all those years 
 ago when she used to tell me about that good 
 boy she had taken care of, and I am jealous 
 now, for she is still just as partial. 
 
 That poor old black gown ! Surely a prac- 
 tical dreamer should know that one can't 
 wear white indefinitely. This is wash-day. 
 
 C. N.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 IX 
 
 CONSTANCE TO DAVID 
 
 ON PINE MOUNTAIN, 
 
 TUESDAY MORNING. 
 )HE pine trees are singing to me 
 just as they used to do long ago. 
 Somehow they encourage confi- 
 dence, and I seem to be talking 
 to you through their branches. 
 
 One spends years in living a life, but in 
 how pitifully short a time the whole story 
 can be told. 
 
 As you agree with me about the influence 
 of early surroundings, I must give you a lit- 
 tle idea of mine, so that you may judge for 
 yourself their effect. Picture, then, in your 
 own mind a sensitive child needing sympathy 
 38
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 and genuine affection, brought up in an un- 
 imaginative New England household. In- 
 stead of the warmth and light which should 
 always surround a child, there was a chilling 
 atmosphere of disapproval. That " inherit- 
 ance of Puritanic gloom " of which Haw- 
 thorne speaks, supplanted all joyous God- 
 given feelings in my aunt and uncle, and I 
 fear descended from generations upon me 
 as a natural right. If " happiness is our 
 birthright " some of us surely are cheated ! 
 
 This pious couple were not above painful 
 disputes. Why can't older people realize the 
 effect of stormy scenes upon an impression- 
 able child ? I used to cudgel my poor, small 
 brain, trying to recall my father and mother 
 who were very happy together, I was told. 
 They had left me a goodly fortune, but not 
 one little remembrance of themselves. One 
 of my most vivid recollections is of shrink- 
 ing from the embrace of a well-meaning rela- 
 tive, then sobbing myself to sleep because I 
 had nobody to kiss. So my happiness lay in 
 39
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 the outdoor world, where I flourished with 
 the trees and flowers and spent my love on 
 my animals. They returned it in their gen- 
 erous way, and always have seemed to me 
 more worthy than most human beings. The 
 tragedy is that their lives are so short, and 
 one must suffer repeated losses and heart- 
 aches. 
 
 The period watched over by dear Nurse 
 that rosy-cheeked English girl, as you too 
 remember her is a bright spot to look back 
 upon. 
 
 From that stage to life in the city where 
 school, dances, entrance into society followed 
 each other in quick succession, was a com- 
 plete transition. Living in the big town 
 house, my time was filled by teas, dinners, 
 and balls which I enjoyed in a 'feverish way 
 when not too impressed with the hollowness 
 of it all. One can talk and laugh through 
 dinners and dances, but it does n't often sat- 
 isfy. I could show my real feelings under 
 those glaring lights no better than I could 
 40
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 show my unreal ones under these pine trees. 
 And so they called me " the cold Miss North," 
 and you would have done the same had you 
 known me in the same way. 
 
 And now I come to the great reality. I 
 hardly know how to tell you, but I feel your 
 sympathy, so I keep on. 
 
 That little boy with the yellow hair was 
 the child of a starving young musician whom 
 I had been able to help though too late. 
 After a few happy months, when I went to 
 their rooms and we spent long evenings fill- 
 ing ourselves with music, the violinist and 
 his young wife both died. The baby, who 
 weathered the hardships which killed his par- 
 ents, they left to me. 
 
 The memory of those evenings we four 
 spent together I shall never lose. The love 
 of that little family for each other was some- 
 thing of which I always had dreamed, but 
 had never known. Often on my way to a 
 dance I would go there and play their accom- 
 paniments while the father played his violin
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 and the mother sang, and the baby rolled on 
 the floor and loved it all. So I resolved, when 
 I took Guy home, that I would do all in my 
 power to keep the sunlight which was his 
 inheritance always about him. The society 
 world might if they chose and they did 
 choose think me an unmitigated crank. 
 When a girl of nineteen blights a social career 
 by devoting all her time and energies to a 
 North End baby, she oversteps the bounds of 
 conventional peculiarity. But I just hugged 
 the baby closer and laughed at the rest of 
 the world. Here was something that needed 
 me ! When Guy cuddled in my arms and I 
 looked into his blue eyes, a wave of feeling 
 rose up in me, and that hollow aching space 
 was filled. 
 
 You could n't look at that child and think 
 an unworthy thought, or say an unkind thing. 
 Love fairly radiated from him, and every one 
 fell under the magic spell. I could n't bear 
 to be away from him, so I went out very lit- 
 tle. But the few dinners and dances I did go
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 to, I enjoyed, for I was happy. Life had be- 
 gun to mean something to me. Guy was two 
 years old that first winter, toddling about and 
 beginning to talk. When I was going out to 
 dinner I would dress early so that I might 
 have a good long play with him in the nur- 
 sery. He loved pretty things, and when I 
 came to him in my evening gown and jewels, 
 he would shout and call me "Lully Tonny !" 
 Do you know baby talk, I wonder ? He 
 loved to play with my rings and necklace 
 and run his soft little fingers over my hands 
 and throat. I remember one night when I 
 wore diamonds in my hair he lay blinking at 
 me, completely fascinated, without saying a 
 word. The pressure of his arms round my 
 neck, and his voice saying, " 'Night, Tonny 
 dear," would stay with me through the din- 
 ner, and make me happy. 
 
 People used to call me unselfish and won- 
 der how I could give up so much for the 
 child. They did n't know that it was n't 
 "giving up." 
 
 43
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 So it went on for six years. If you have 
 never watched a child grow and develop you 
 don't know what it means. I didn't till 
 I had Guy. I never liked or understood 
 children before. But I followed every step 
 with him, and in his pleasures made up for 
 the childhood I had never known. He was 
 happy at kindergarten and school, for he 
 was receptive to everything good. He loved 
 animals, and he was simply filled with music. 
 He began to sing as soon as he could talk, 
 and before long we sang duets, he standing 
 beside me at the piano in his little white 
 dress. I had to avoid songs like "The 
 drowning of poor pussy-cat," and a minor 
 strain would bring the tears rushing into his 
 eyes. That was the only way in which his 
 inherited delicacy of temperament showed 
 itself. There was nothing abnormal about 
 him. He loved play as much as any child I 
 ever saw, and was full of fun and gayety. 
 
 When he was five I began his violin les- 
 sons. He showed great talent, and of course 
 
 44
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 I made all sorts of plans for him. I had 
 ceased completely to dream about myself 
 and to wonder what was likely to become 
 of me. For surely, " It is when one expects 
 nothing more for one's self that one is able 
 to love." 
 
 You see, don't you? that I would 
 have done anything to bring happiness to 
 Guy, given up all to spare him pain. But 
 somehow that which we are ready to give is 
 seldom demanded of us. It was the child 
 himself I must give up, and when suffering 
 came to him I was powerless. 
 
 In all my loneliness and grief I feel that I 
 could bear the loss, if that were all. If Guy 
 could have slipped happily away there would 
 always have been a memory of joy and peace 
 to comfort me. But instead, there is that hor- 
 rible impression of the end which has burnt 
 itself into me. That is what I mean by say- 
 ing, though I force it from me by day, I dream 
 of it at night. No one but the doctor and 
 nurse realize what happened, but now I will 
 45
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 tell you. People wrote their sympathetic 
 notes, saying that I would find comfort in 
 the thought of Guy's joyous life, that it was 
 beautiful to think I had none but happy 
 memories to recall. This applied to what 
 they knew, but it did not touch the trouble 
 lying nearest my heart. 
 
 Guy was taken ill suddenly, and lived only 
 three days. It did n't occur to me that he 
 could die. There never was a creature who 
 seemed more alive in every fibre. The doc- 
 tor said that an operation might save him, 
 and I had to take the responsibility of that 
 life and say it should be tried. It was unsuc- 
 cessful. The doctor said the end must come 
 in a few hours. Then my only feeling was to 
 be with Guy so that he should have no fear. 
 The doctor looked troubled and advised me 
 to go out of the room. 
 
 " Surely you will not let him suffer ! " I 
 cried out. 
 
 '* No," he answered. " There is no danger 
 of that, but we are obliged to use powerful 
 46
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 drugs which may have a strange effect. I 
 should advise you not to stay." 
 
 His words sounded meaningless at the 
 time. Guy knew me. Guy needed me. I 
 sat beside him, holding his little hot hand 
 and smoothing his forehead. He was con- 
 tented for I was with him, and I thought he 
 would slip away with his hand in mine. 
 
 How can I write what happened it is all 
 so horrible ! " Only a convulsion," the doc- 
 tor said. " Remember he is unconscious and 
 feels no pain." 
 
 How could I believe that, when he strug- 
 gled in my arms so that I could not hold 
 him, and must give him up to the doctor and 
 nurse, when I saw his face distorted and heard 
 him moan and cry out as though imploring 
 me to help him ! Can there be anything 
 harder to bear, I wonder, than helplessly to 
 watch the sufferings of those one loves ! 
 
 Finally I went into my own room and 
 paced up and down. His cries grew gradually 
 fainter. There was a gasping sound, then at 
 47
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 last it was over. When I came back they 
 had drawn something over his face. 
 
 The doctor wished that I might have been 
 spared such a painful experience, but I must 
 remember, he said, that the child was wholly 
 unconscious through it all. He went away 
 thinking me convinced. But do you wonder 
 that what I saw is more real to me than any- 
 thing he could say ? Strive as I will to be- 
 lieve him, it seems to me he was only trying 
 to comfort me. Though I have times of 
 implicitly accepting his words, the dreadful 
 scene will keep coming into my mind, and 
 then the old doubt comes over me again. 
 
 " You should not have stayed," the practi- 
 cal nurse said. 
 
 I cannot feel that, for at least I did all that 
 I could, and I hope that my face bending over 
 him was Guy's last sight on earth. 
 
 I shall never forget the beauty of that June 
 day. You know those lavish days when Na- 
 ture has more bounty than she knows how to 
 use. There was an overflow of joyous life. 
 48
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 It seemed to me that the birds had never sung 
 with such abandon. The sunlight streaming 
 in at the window made mocking darts at my 
 pink dress. I had put it on because Guy 
 liked it. The whole outer world was expres- 
 sive of him. I seemed to hear him calling 
 me from the garden, but when I went out 
 there I was met only by a greater loneliness. 
 Even the room with its suffocating odor of 
 drugs was more bearable to me than that 
 riotous joy in which I could not share. 
 
 That is what I mean by saying we can de- 
 rive no direct comfort from Nature. When 
 it is the touch of the hand, the sound of the 
 voice our hearts cry out for, nothing else will 
 satisfy. 
 
 So this is my story. Your silence has been 
 so sympathetic that I almost forgot you 
 were n't one of the dear old dumb things I 
 used to pour out my woes to. 
 
 It is nearly a day that Sandy and I have 
 been here. The shadows of the pines are 
 
 49
 
 growing long, and Nurse will be wondering 
 what has become of us. We must leave our 
 mountain-top. Perhaps you too are on the 
 lookout from your sky parlor. You will 
 have left the balcony long ago. 
 
 So I go down to you yet we seem much 
 nearer here. 
 
 C.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 X 
 
 DAVID TO CONSTANCE 
 
 TUESDAY EVENING. 
 |F you could have seen me, dear 
 friend, when I read your letter, 
 you would realize my sympathy. 
 The evening has slipped by while 
 I have been reading and pondering it, but I 
 can't let night shut down without sending 
 you a few words. Poor lonely little child 
 with a soul hunger. Indeed, it made me sad 
 to think about her. 
 
 You are tired to-night, I know. Your 
 music is delicate and dreamy instead of wild 
 and spirited as it was yesterday. I know that 
 it must have cost you much to write me such 
 a letter. When feelings rush out with such 
 
 5 1
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 force it shows how narrowly they have been 
 pent up. It is better that they should at last 
 be free. The pine trees and I will share your 
 burden and keep secret. 
 
 Shall I tell you that with all the sympathy, 
 all the compassion that your story roused in 
 me, my chief feeling was of triumph ! Be 
 thankful that you have known such love, 
 that you are capable of feeling it, for it means 
 just the difference between real life and hol- 
 low existence. 
 
 I am glad that I am a doctor, if for no 
 other reason than to reassure you in the mat- 
 ter that has given you such distress. It is 
 hard, I know, to give more credence to what 
 we are told than to what we see with our own 
 eyes. But you must accept the truth from 
 those who have reason to know. I will, if 
 you wish, give you a string of scientific truths 
 which must remove all doubt from your mind. 
 I know that Guy felt no pain, and I am glad 
 that you were brave enough to be with him. 
 
 I wish I could speak with such assurance
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 of cases of my own. To alleviate when you 
 can, to try not to think about it when you 
 can do nothing, is a lesson a doctor must 
 early learn. But if he is sympathetic, his 
 heart will have one wrench after another, 
 nevertheless. So knowing what this burden 
 is, I rejoice that you need not bear it. 
 
 Here comes Nurse to tuck me up, just as 
 she used to do. ' I wonder if she will hear me 
 say my prayers, and ask me if I have been a 
 good boy to-day. 
 
 Good-night. 
 
 D. L.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 XI 
 
 CONSTANCE TO DAVID 
 
 WEDNESDAY. 
 
 JHAT your letter was a comfort 
 to me you will realize when I tell 
 you that I slept last night as I 
 have not done for months. Conse- 
 quently the world seems brighter to me this 
 morning in spite of its outwardly forbidding 
 aspect. The doctor said, "What a dreary 
 day ! " as he passed by. I could n't agree 
 with him. Yet how the rain does pour down ! 
 You can't go out for which I am very 
 sorry. 
 
 My little sitting-room is cosy this morn- 
 ing, with its dancing fire and singing tea- 
 kettle. Next to the purring of a cat, do you 
 54
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 know any sound more comfortable than the 
 singing of a kettle ? 
 
 When will they let you come down here 
 and visit me, I wonder ? 
 
 Do you know that, having laid bare my 
 secret before you, I feel more like indulging 
 in a little levity. Having once established 
 my position, I am willing to disregard it. All 
 sorts of puzzling things come to my mind 
 to ask you, but I can't endanger my present 
 peace by doing so. 
 
 I have just given your doctor a serious 
 lecture for letting his horse stand uncovered 
 in the rain. I think he will remember another 
 time. 
 
 C. N.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 XII 
 
 DAVID TO CONSTANCE 
 
 WEDNESDAY EVENING. 
 ON'T you play the Mendelssohn 
 " Spring Song " again ? That was 
 such a tantalizing snatch. I like 
 things out of season, don't you ? 
 Now, " Good-by Summer " merely intensi- 
 fies one's autumnal feelings, which are likely 
 to be strong enough anyway. But a touch 
 of spring brings a happy suggestion of hope 
 and promise, and wood violets. 
 
 D. L.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 XIII 
 
 DAVID TO CONSTANCE 
 
 WEDNESDAY EVENING. 
 HANK you. Do you know that 
 you play very well ? 
 
 D.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 XIV 
 
 CONSTANCE TO DAVID 
 
 THURSDAY. 
 
 [HE woods are wet this morning 
 for newly starched white petti- 
 coats, so I have abandoned them 
 the woods, I mean and have 
 struck out in search of green fields and pas- 
 tures new. Here is a little hollow which the 
 sun has touched drying up its moisture, 
 and leaving it fresh and fair. There is, how- 
 ever, an irrepressible little brook which, re- 
 fusing to be subdued, tumbles by me in its 
 excess of haste and exuberance. It is appar- 
 ently afraid to pause a moment lest it over- 
 flow its banks. From force of childish habit 
 I fling a few twigs into the stream and watch 
 58
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 thorn until, whisked along by the current, 
 they disappear. I am left to wonder, with 
 the ever new charm of contemplating things 
 vague, where the boats go. 
 
 Dear Sage, I am constantly tempted into 
 saying, " If this were all ! " If one might 
 forever listen to this musical brook, one 
 might also keep in tune. But oh, the harsh 
 discords to which we may not close our ears ! 
 This overflow of feeling Nature though I 
 have reviled her does understand. But 
 the world does not. It demands that one be 
 ornamental and agreeable in society, that one 
 make charitable calls, and sign checks. It is a 
 practical, mercenary world, as my morning's 
 mail testifies. While I am abusing it, let me 
 add that it is also selfish, liking us so long 
 as we amuse it, thrusting us aside when we 
 become poor company. 
 
 When we are by nature inclined toward 
 melancholy, why doesn't Fate the silly 
 thing enjoy cosseting us up a bit? In- 
 stead, she delights in stripping away the few 
 59
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 healthy influences we have welcomed, and in 
 thrusting us back upon our own poor re- 
 sources. 
 
 You are shocked, doubtless, that on this 
 beautiful morning I can give vent to such 
 heathenish sentiments. It must be the very 
 contrariness which appalls me, and makes all 
 the ugly things of life other people's trou- 
 bles, I 'd have you know, as well as my own 
 loom large. How do you contrive to be 
 triumphant, I wonder. 
 
 But I bore you, and you probably have 
 reached the yawning stage. What splendid 
 openings, though, for long lectures I have 
 given you so take heart ! 
 
 Sandy is standing on the other side of the 
 brook, urging me to further exploration. So, 
 as I never can refuse a dog good-by. 
 
 I wonder if that tipsy little bridge will bear 
 me. 
 
 C. N. 
 P. S. It did n't!
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 XV 
 
 DAVID TO CONSTANCE 
 
 FRIDAY. 
 
 JND so I may give you a lecture? 
 you child who abuse your most 
 faithful ally. If this Arcadian life 
 were all, I would n't dare contem- 
 plate the consequences. Call the world self- 
 ish, mercenary, what you will its influences 
 have the blessed power to turn us from our- 
 selves. And is there a more magic balm 
 than, that which soothes our own wounds 
 when we are trying to heal other people's? 
 I don't mean, mind you, by giving " absent 
 treatment " to all the sufferers in Christen- 
 dom. 
 
 May I take advantage of my position on 
 61
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 the lecture platform to make another sugges- 
 tion? If Fate is that vindictive personage 
 you paint, why not disarm her by determin- 
 ing the extent of your own resources ? Then 
 
 excuse the impertinence to one so august 
 
 you would have her on the hip. 
 
 I have been tending a flickering flame 
 lately, trying with Emerson to "build 
 altars to the Beautiful Necessity." Some- 
 times my fire is quenched by discouraging 
 rain, and I am left shivering. Then all at 
 once a spark flies out in an unexpected place, 
 and a clear flame shoots up. I believe it will 
 burn brightly in the end. Don't you ? 
 
 Here is something which has been sing- 
 ing its way into my heart. It may be a trite 
 phrase, but to me it sounds musical : " We 
 must accept the unalterable laws of life." 
 
 I wonder if I made it up, or whether I am 
 thrusting second-hand information upon you. 
 That would be unfair. 
 
 Does this all sound too severe and pedan- 
 tic to a dreamer ? D. L. 
 62
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 Thank you for your glimpse of green fields 
 and running brooks. I felt that I was playing 
 there with you. Nature must have forgot- 
 ten her role of proud beauty to step down 
 from her pedestal or was it possibly you 
 who ? - 
 
 Good-by.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 XVI 
 
 CONSTANCE TO DAVID 
 
 SATURDAY. 
 
 JOUR suggestions though deli- 
 cately veiled are searching, my 
 gentle critic, and it is unfortu- 
 nate that directly one criticises I 
 rebel. I have always felt sure that I could 
 keep quite pleasant if no one ever found fault 
 with me. A humble notion, surely ! But it 
 is so healthy to expand under praise that we 
 should be allowed the luxury. Guy and I 
 reveled in each other's approval. 
 
 Yes, I suppose I must go back into the 
 world, and take up some practical work. But 
 I rather pity the object of my unwilling de- 
 votion. 
 
 64
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 k 
 
 Is it Goldsmith who says, " Scrub the floor 
 with your broken heart " ? 
 
 That is undoubtedly good for the heart, 
 but I scarcely think the floor will be greatly 
 benefited. 
 
 Do you, who can juggle so nicely with 
 Fate, suppose that by merely filling the 
 hours I can forget ? And I don't wish to 
 forget. Another selfish trait which I will 
 score with a black mark to spare you the 
 trouble. 
 
 Here am I with the freedom of God's 
 earth at my disposal, complaining, while you, 
 poor prisoner, utter not a word. There is 
 something positively frightening in an uncom- 
 plaining man. Does it grow easier when one 
 has accepted the unalterable laws, I wonder ? 
 The idea never occurred to me, and you are 
 cheating me of a most absorbing line of 
 thought. I suppose you knew that ! 
 
 I fancied that my trees had missed me 
 when I went back to them to-day. The 
 pine branches swept before me in stately 
 
 65
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 M 
 
 curtsies, and the wind sang its tender wel- 
 come. 
 
 When can you come with me into the 
 woods ? 
 
 C. N.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 XVII 
 
 DAVID TO CONSTANCE 
 
 SUNDAY. 
 
 |F course you don't wish to forget. 
 Memory, dear dreamer, is a pre- 
 cious possession and should be 
 guarded as such. To find a man 
 or a woman who remembers even great 
 joys gives one fresh confidence in life's 
 reality. 
 
 You know how sadly Amiel says, "Na- 
 ture is forgetful ; the world is almost more 
 so." 
 
 I think, however, that he does our fair 
 
 friend an injustice. Nature is wonderfully 
 
 discriminating, it seems to me, in what she 
 
 casts out and what she keeps. Why not look 
 
 6?
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 your affairs squarely in the face and see if 
 you mightn't profit by her example? 
 
 They are promising me freedom before 
 long. Shall I dare, I wonder, abuse you 
 then ? I have to make the most of present 
 opportunities, for already I see the tilt of 
 your nose and the curve of your lips, my 
 lady disdain. 
 
 I have a glimpse through the trees of the 
 little white meeting-house on the hilltop 
 where you have gone. The sound of the 
 bells comes clearly to me across the fields. 
 Is it as charming when you reach it, or is it 
 one of those things which never should be 
 approached for fear of marring its perfection ? 
 But these are dangerous views to circulate in 
 the enemy's camp ! 
 
 I wonder if there is a small boy in knicker- 
 bockers, who sits with legs stretched straight 
 before him not long enough even to dan- 
 gle. Sometimes he nods wearily, and then a 
 gentle mother's arm curves around him, and 
 rest comes. Lucky little beggar ! Some day 
 68
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 he may stand outside the church, and long 
 for those old simple days before he tried to 
 set up a philosophy of his own. 
 
 Then he will hope that a fair saint within 
 may breathe a prayer for him. Do you think 
 she will ? 
 
 D. L.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 XVIII 
 
 CONSTANCE TO DAVID 
 
 MONDAY. 
 
 HAVE been reminiscing to-day. 
 There was an insignificant little 
 girl at school, who apparently 
 cared for nothing but finery and 
 frivolity. An unusually fine man fell in love 
 with her, and in marrying him whatever good 
 lay latent in her was developed. For when I 
 met her a few years ago she was wonderfully 
 improved. She has two of the loveliest chil- 
 dren I ever saw. Her life is simply flooded 
 with sunshine. And, like many women of her 
 kind, she accepts it all as a matter of course. 
 There is a different type of woman to whom 
 this would be the breath of life, and she is 
 70
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 usually doomed to stand outside and shiver. 
 For example, a baron once proposed to 
 me after a week's acquaintance, intimating 
 that we could make an excellent bargain, as 
 I would give my riches in exchange for his 
 title. He added, by way of inducement, that 
 there would be no danger of unhappiness, as 
 neither of us was likely to waste a serious 
 thought upon the other. 
 
 It was after a few more such depressing 
 experiences that Guy took me into his heart, 
 and I did n't care what became of every mar- 
 riageable man in Christendom. And then 
 You know the rest. 
 
 Don't ask me to look my affairs squarely 
 in the face, my kind critic. They scowl back 
 at me too disagreeably. 
 
 The little church surprised me yesterday. 
 I also had thought of it as a mere pictur- 
 esque spot in the landscape, and a very peace- 
 ful one. I went, and instead of the expected 
 rest was given a stirring-up quite outdoing 
 any I have received at your hands. I had pic- 
 71
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 tured Mr. Dean a placid, middle-aged soul, 
 with no ideas in particular. Presto ! a beard- 
 less youth, wide awake to all the questions 
 of modern life. You should have heard his 
 voice ring when he urged us not to ignore 
 our blessed privilege in the world as servants 
 of man and children of God. 
 
 "You must remember," he said, "that the 
 apparent hardships of life are, in reality, glo- 
 rious opportunities. Circumstantial pleasures, 
 desirable though they may seem at the mo- 
 ment, are merely outward. They pass and 
 are soon forgotten. It is when this form of 
 pleasure is denied us, when we are thrown 
 upon our own resources, that our characters 
 develop, and inward peace is found." 
 
 Here is this man with an invalid wife, two 
 small children, and only a tiny salary, who 
 has had to leave his work in the slums where, 
 evidently, his power lies, pouring out his 
 soul Sunday after Sunday to deaf ears. And 
 yet he is happy. 
 
 I know what you are thinking that this 
 72
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 is but another instance of the revelation of 
 joy through sorrow. Is mine the only nature 
 too small to comprehend it, I wonder ? 
 
 I 'm too bruised and battered to think. I 
 feel like pushing your invincible theories 
 aside, and saying, " Don't bother me only 
 let me grieve in peace ! " 
 
 C. N.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 XIX 
 
 DAVID TO CONSTANCE 
 
 jjOU have set me dreaming to-night. 
 I also have a reminiscence. 
 
 When I was in college, and glad 
 to earn a penny now and then, I 
 went West with a youth whose health not 
 because of overwork demanded that he 
 leave the Alma Mater for a while. Inciden- 
 tally he was upset over a girl who, he thought, 
 had treated him badly. His opinion, how- 
 ever, was slightly biased. She merely didn't 
 choose to marry him, and I thought her 
 judgment was excellent. 
 
 We were penetrating the wilds of Wyo- 
 ming by slow degrees, and at each stop where 
 we inquired for some backwoods camp, we 
 
 74
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 were met with the ready answer, " Oh, Jeff's 
 the man you 're lookin' for ! " 
 
 The form of the reply might vary, but the 
 substance never. 
 
 At each apology for a town we were greeted 
 with new accounts of Jeff, and as we drew 
 nearer his domain the stories became more 
 and more personal. At a distance we had 
 learned that he had the most successful lum- 
 ber camp in the State, that he was the best 
 huntsman and guide for miles around ; but 
 near at hand within fifty miles, that is to 
 say, of his camp we were made the bearers 
 of all sorts of messages, and even of small 
 gifts for Jeff. The children showed us neck- 
 laces, boxes, and all sorts of knickknacks he 
 had carved for them ingeniously out of wood. 
 The most frequent message was, " Tell him 
 to come over. It 's weeks since he 's been 
 here. We 're all pinin' to see him." 
 
 As we and our guides, with jaded horses, 
 finished our march before a rude cabin in the 
 wilderness, we were greeted by our host. 
 75
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 Six feet three of manly strength, he towered 
 in the doorway ; then he came forward to 
 welcome us with the grace of a woman and 
 the smile of a child. This was indeed Jeff 
 everybody's friend but for the rest I was 
 unprepared. He was no backwoodsman 
 this gentle giant but a gentleman born and 
 bred. 
 
 As we lounged round the camp-fire at 
 night, after a hard day's work, Jeff would re- 
 fresh us with the tales for which he was justly 
 famous. It was not merely his experiences in 
 themselves, but the spirit he put into them, 
 which made them interesting. Whether his 
 story dealt with the great cities, or the greater 
 wilderness, and he seemed equally at home 
 in either, his keen insight into character and 
 his thoroughly human understanding always 
 struck the keynote. He had the rare faculty 
 of keeping himself out of his stories. It was 
 generally, " A man I met once," or, " A dog 
 I knew." 
 
 It was this very unconsciousness of self 
 76
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 which revealed the man's character. I can 
 hear his great voice now, suddenly softening 
 to tell some pathetic incident in a way that 
 would bring the tears to one's eyes. Even 
 the Kid would for the moment forget his own 
 woes. Then, quick as a flash, that humor of 
 his would come to the rescue, and we would 
 all be laughing together. 
 
 I think the best tribute to his personality 
 is that he could give a rebuke without its 
 being resented. 
 
 One day a forlorn little yellow dog strag- 
 gled into camp. One of the new men started 
 to drive it out, but Jeff stopped him with a 
 look that, I think, he did n't soon forget, and 
 whistled to the dog. 
 
 " Why, hullo, Sporty ! " he said, when the 
 little beast came wagging up to him. " I met 
 you down the river road the other day 
 wondered when you 'd be calling round." 
 
 " Oh, beg your pardon ! " the man said 
 involuntarily. " Did n't know he was a friend 
 of yours." 
 
 77
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 I think it was the influence of JefFs char- 
 acter, as much as the natural life to which it 
 was so closely akin, that proved such a bra- 
 cing tonic to the Kid. After two months, 
 there was no excuse for our staying longer. 
 
 Romantic as it would have been to let the 
 story of JefFs former life remain in shadowy 
 obscurity, curiosity got the better of me. On 
 our homeward journey I made repeated in- 
 quiries among the mutual friends who were 
 all eager to talk of Jeff. At first I could dis- 
 cover nothing. He had lived with them and 
 been their friend. That was all they knew or 
 cared to know. At last I found an old man 
 who through no act of JefFs had learned 
 the story, and accordingly had kept silent. 
 
 This is it: Ten years before, Jeff had 
 come to Wyoming from business in one of 
 the big Eastern cities, bringing with him his 
 little boy of five. The doctors had given the 
 child up, finally suggesting, however, that 
 Western air possibly could save or, at least, 
 prolong his life. The character of the mother 
 78
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 was plain to see one wonders how Jeff 
 could have loved her in that she chose to 
 remain in the social circle which comprised 
 her life. Roughing it in the wilderness would 
 have been to her slow suicide. 
 
 The boy flourished in the outdoor world, 
 and grew steadily stronger. Jeff established 
 himself, and prepared to stay the rest of his 
 life if necessary. 
 
 After a few years came the news that his 
 wife had run away with another man, without 
 the formality of procuring a divorce. I, who 
 in these few weeks had learned to know this 
 man as it is not often given us to know our 
 fellow creatures, realized what this blow must 
 have been to him. The smirch on his good 
 name, the careless handling of his honor, 
 must have been hideous to a man of his sen- 
 sitive and upright nature ; but that was not 
 all. I knew that in his simplicity he still 
 loved the woman who had wronged him, and 
 that the bitterest pang was in the loss of her 
 love. This grief he completely concealed, 
 79
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 and kept, his bright side out. Toward the 
 men who knew nothing of his history this 
 attitude would not be so hard to maintain, 
 but with the boy it was different. In his 
 mind Jeff had kept fresh the memory of the 
 mother, and so, of course, he kept on talk- 
 ing and asking about her. My old friend 
 said he had constantly heard the question, 
 " What do you suppose mother is doing now ? 
 Does she still miss us ? " And then urgent 
 requests for " Another story about home." 
 
 After six years the boy died. He had been 
 gaining steadily, and died just as Jeff had 
 grown to feel sure that he would live. 
 
 " Yes, they 'd had great times together," 
 my friend said slowly. " The little feller was 
 gettin' to know all his father did about the 
 birds and animals, and loved the woods just 
 as he did. He was a boy any father might 
 be proud of, but for Jeff well, you know 
 him," the old man concluded abruptly. 
 
 With primitive directness he realized that 
 there was no need to say more. 
 80
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 At every step we were asked about Jeff, 
 and an affectionate message, and the word 
 that he was coming soon, brightened the face 
 of every questioner. 
 
 As we rode away, I looked back toward 
 the stately forest where we had left him stand- 
 ing firm and strong like the trees around 
 him. I remember that the Kid and I smoked 
 in silence long after we had left the last camp 
 behind us. 
 
 I feel that there is no wrong in telling you 
 this story, for Harry Jefferson died a year 
 ago, felled by one of his own great pines. 
 
 The woman who once was his wife, in my 
 opinion, deserves no clemency. 
 
 D. L.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 XX 
 
 CONSTANCE TO DAVID 
 
 TUESDAY. 
 
 [OW such a life towers up among 
 the ruins of other lives ! a thing 
 complete and perfect, which I from 
 my dust heap may gaze up at and 
 admire. That to produce quite a different 
 effect upon me was your motive in telling 
 me the story, I fully realize. Rather than be 
 thought stupid, I confess to obstinacy. I 
 shall always persist that some well-equipped 
 people are intended to build towers, while 
 others, incapacitated by inheritance or sur- 
 roundings, are doomed to have their poor 
 little card-houses come tumbling about their 
 ears. I rather envy those placid souls who 
 82
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 don't fry to build at all. To be an uncon- 
 scious failure must be only less satisfying 
 than to be a conscious success. 
 
 You and I will never agree as to the lim- 
 itation of the individual, so let 's keep on 
 quarreling ! Not to-night, however. The 
 story of Harry Jefferson is too fresh in my 
 mind. 
 
 The maple trees flaunted crimson banners 
 in my face as I went through the wood-path 
 this morning. I send you a sprig as earnest 
 that you will soon pass that way. 
 
 C. N.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 XXI 
 
 DAVID TO CONSTANCE 
 
 TUESDAY EVENING. 
 ijOUR non-builders, whose lot you 
 
 so envy, must lead the placid 
 
 existence of Emerson's Bumble 
 
 Bee, 
 " Seeing only what is fair, 
 
 Sipping only what is sweet." 
 
 All very proper for a bumble bee, of course, 
 but personally a larger experience has always 
 seemed more interesting. If I felt a sharp 
 twinge now and then, I should call it a spir- 
 itual growing pain, and be glad that I was 
 stretching out a bit. 
 
 I have long held a soothing notion that 
 Fate favors the frivolous, include here your 
 84
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 fortunate school friend if you like, and that 
 she hesitates to burden them with more than 
 they can bear. "Contrariwise," as Tweedle- 
 dee says, she must be paying you and me a 
 subtle compliment. 
 
 But I am on the borderland of philosophy, 
 so let me hasten to withdraw. 
 
 Nurse has come and gone, and the room 
 seems suddenly filled with new light and life. 
 Imagine caring to classify her, or to deter- 
 mine the reason for her cheerfulness. I don't 
 suppose she ever paused to consider the pro- 
 blem of individual destiny benighted wo- 
 man ! 
 
 Has she told you about that crippled child 
 of hers in Boston, whom she visits every 
 month ? 
 
 D. L.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 XXII 
 
 CONSTANCE TO DAVID 
 
 WEDNESDAY EVENING. 
 AM tired heartily, healthily tired. 
 It is such a different feeling from 
 the negative weariness which has 
 hung about me for so long. No- 
 thing has the power to disturb or hurt me 
 to-night not even your letter, which was 
 horrid. So I ignore it. Perhaps, however, 
 you considered it the retort courteous to 
 mine. 
 
 You remember what I told you of the 
 minister's family ? This morning Nurse told 
 me they were in great trouble. The poor 
 young wife was very ill, and the little maid 
 of all work had departed. I won't bore you 
 86
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 with all the household details, for you can 
 readily see that the situation was critical. 
 
 So I pinned on a hat, and ran up the road. 
 I found the minister employed clearing away 
 the breakfast dishes. Two small children sat 
 on the floor playing with their dolls and 
 blocks, patiently trying to make the best 
 of an unfortunate situation. The first hasty 
 glance gave me the impression that they had 
 been scrambled into their clothes by unac- 
 customed hands. It is odd that a few hours 
 of neglect can produce an effect of such utter 
 forlornity. 
 
 We had a busy morning ! Mr. Dean, very 
 red in the face, tried at first to bow me out 
 of the scene of confusion and into his study. 
 He tried cheerfully to assure me that there 
 was nothing to do, as he could perfectly well 
 put the house in order and take care of the 
 children himself. Judging by appearances, I 
 could scarcely agree with him. He told me 
 with tears in his eyes that it was owing to 
 Mrs. Martin that his wife had lived through 
 
 87
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 the night. I could hear Nurse's step and 
 cheery voice upstairs, and knowing that the 
 really critical part was best trusted to her, I 
 devoted myself to the simpler tasks below. 
 For I had suddenly discovered latent execu- 
 tive ability, and was charmed with the new 
 sensation of putting it to active use. 
 
 So I tied a big checked apron round the 
 minister's neck, for he was spotting his clothes 
 dreadfully, buttoned myself into another, and 
 we dispatched the dishes in short order. The 
 children, who like all of their kind are easily 
 cheered if you can only divert them, bright- 
 ened up immediately. 
 
 While the little boy was playing he was a 
 steam-engine, however, and pursuing his way 
 round and round the table, he suddenly 
 doubled up in apparent agony. 
 
 "I fink somethin's the matter wid my 
 clo'es," he gasped. " They stick into me 
 here." 
 
 Poor little monkey ! Examination revealed 
 that they were put on the under ones
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 wrong side out, and all those many buttons 
 were pressing inward. 
 
 The poor minister was overcome at the 
 discovery, and was forced to admit that he 
 was not a success as nurse. I discharged him 
 from that position and sent him to his right- 
 ful one in the study. Then I worked a trans- 
 formation, surprising to myself, in the chil- 
 dren's appearance, and we went outdoors to 
 play. We had such a beautiful time, and it 
 was all a surprise to me. I never supposed 
 other children would like me. But they en- 
 joyed just the things Guy did. We picked 
 flowers and watched the birds, and soon we 
 were old friends. 
 
 Nurse cooked luncheon for us. I was glad 
 to be helped in that very practical task, and 
 we all had a merry meal together, for she 
 brought word that Mrs. Dean was comfort- 
 able, and that the minister might go and sit 
 with her for a little while. 
 
 As it grew dusk, I told the children sto- 
 ries, and they loved them just as Guy did, 
 89
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 even liking his favorites best. One about an 
 enchanted princess in a wood, they asked for 
 over and over. Then somehow or other I 
 began telling them all about Guy himself, 
 and you should have seen their faces. They 
 wanted to hear everything I could tell them, 
 and kept asking the dearest questions. Little 
 Lucy was " so sowwy he 'd gone away where 
 she could n't play wid him." 
 
 I did n't leave them till they were tucked 
 up in bed for the night. Then they put their 
 arms round me and would n't let me go till 
 I promised to come again in the morning. 
 
 " Early ? " Jackie asked. " Shall we wake 
 up an' find you here ? " 
 
 I came flying home as though my feet had 
 wings. The moon was up, the stars were 
 shining, and the world seemed flooded with 
 golden light. 
 
 And, oh, I 'm going again to-morrow ! 
 
 C. N.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 XXIII 
 
 DAVID TO CONSTANCE 
 
 THURSDAY. 
 
 [HEN you went springing by before 
 the dew was off the grass, I knew 
 that you had some definite work 
 to do. When you came singing 
 home in the starlight, I knew that the work 
 was done. And yet, my lady, I am no mind 
 reader. 
 
 So my poor old letters are henceforth to be 
 ignored ! I can retaliate and write you no 
 more, which reminds me, oddly enough, that 
 to-morrow I am to be allowed a short walk, 
 and Saturday to be given my freedom. It is 
 merely out of courtesy to the doctor that I 
 have so long submitted to this regime, for 
 
 9 1
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 I Ve felt as strong as an ox since the first 
 few days, and ^s soon as they let me out I 
 shall prove it. 
 
 Then will you let me explore all the wood 
 paths with you ? And then we '11 climb our 
 mountain peak. 
 
 So Auf Wiedersehen. 
 
 D. L.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 XXIV 
 
 CONSTANCE TO DAVID 
 
 ON PINE MOUNTAIN, 
 FRIDAY. 
 
 jERE I am once more among the 
 dear restful trees. Since Tuesday I 
 have been too busy to come. 
 Think of that too busy! I repeat 
 the words, for their sound pleases me. 
 
 Now I am on my way home from the Par- 
 sonage, by rather a roundabout route, you 
 may think, and Sandy and I are picnicking 
 under our favorite pine. He is taking his 
 after-dinner nap now, though in a most apol- 
 ogetic way. You should see him with one 
 sleepy eye blinking at the birds that are flying 
 so trustingly near him, and one ear alert to 
 93
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 catch the first sound of my voice. He wishes 
 me to understand that he is sleeping merely 
 for lack of better employment, and awaits 
 my slightest command. Dear old thing ! 
 There is something pathetic to me in the 
 whole-souled devotion of these creatures 
 whom man condescendingly calls " the lower 
 animals." 
 
 Somehow I don't feel that drowsiness which 
 usually follows a meal in the open air. Of 
 course I have been day-dreaming but you 
 don't disapprove of practical dreams, do 
 you? 
 
 Our good friend's "journal" lies beside 
 me where I can dip into it at will, and I have 
 just happened upon a passage which appeals 
 to me " Reverie is the Sunday of thought." 
 And he goes on to speculate upon the equal 
 merits of work and consequent repose. 
 
 Don't question my right to this earned 
 tranquillity, will you? for I am reveling in 
 the new sensation. 
 
 94
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 We have established a trained nurse at the 
 Parsonage. Dear little Mrs. Dean is improv- 
 ing, and the doctor actually says that if she 
 can go to Boston later, and have special treat- 
 ment, she may get well. 
 
 My head is simply full of plans definite, 
 sensible plans which must succeed, for the 
 minister will sacrifice even his pride where 
 his wife's welfare is concerned. It will be 
 perfectly possible, I know, to slide her 
 stretcher onto a wagon, and then into the 
 baggage car, and I keep thinking of new ways 
 of simplifying the journey. 
 
 I can't quite decide whether to have flowery 
 paper in the nursery and plain furnishings, or 
 plain pink paper and coverings of flowered 
 chintz. Which do you prefer? That is the 
 day nursery, of course. It is a lovely, bright 
 room. I remember just how the sun used 
 to shine on Guy's hair and turn it to gold. 
 Jackie shall have his room, with his little 
 brass bedstead, and I shall furnish my dress- 
 ing-room with a white set for Lucy. 
 
 95
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 Then the best part of all is that the min- 
 ister will have to come to Boston to be with 
 his family, and then he can take up his be- 
 loved slum work again. It seems idiotic of 
 the doctors ever to have sent Mrs. Dean here. 
 I suppose they thought it would be a pleasant 
 place to die in. 
 
 It is less than two weeks since I first 
 wrote you from among these pines. This is 
 just such a day of blue sky and clear air 
 and yet what a difference ! Think of sit- 
 ting in this fairyland and talking of brass 
 bedsteads and house cleaning ! You should 
 feel encouraged, my patient teacher. Have I 
 lifted up the latch, I wonder ? At any rate, 
 Nature is standing on the threshold, smiling 
 at me. 
 
 And so you are to be given your freedom ! 
 I told Sandy, and he barked for joy. I whis- 
 pered it to the trees, and they stretched out 
 their arms in welcome. 
 96
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 A big black cloud is hovering over us ! We 
 must fly. 
 
 Till to-morrow, then ! 
 
 C. N.
 
 Ill 
 
 LIGHT BETWEEN THE TREES"
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 LIGHT BETWEEN THE TREES " 
 
 jATURE weeps at night and smiles 
 in the morning," Constance said. 
 " Because she is obeying a natural 
 law of change," David answered. 
 They stood by the cottage door, sniffing, 
 like young animals, the exhilarating air which 
 swept over them. Before them, field and 
 upland stretched away to the encircling hills. 
 A blue haze lingered there, and the clouds 
 which crowned the hills were soft and white. 
 Nature, indeed, had wrought over night one 
 of her marvelous transformations. The storm 
 had passed and the earth lay basking in the 
 warm October sunshine. It was a mellow 
 day, when the sun seemed to penetrate the 
 101
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 very heart of Nature, making all living things 
 glow in response. 
 
 David laughed at Nurse Martin and Con- 
 stance, who insisted upon wrapping him up 
 and depositing him in a sunny corner of the 
 garden. 
 
 " But after all," he told Constance, gayly, 
 "if I am sensible I will submit to playing 
 the invalid, since that is the evident way to 
 gain your society." 
 
 He was so absorbed in watching her as she 
 sat beside him with her sewing, her bright 
 hair touched by the sun and tossed by the 
 wind, that although he noted the sound of 
 her voice, her words passed at first, un- 
 heeded. 
 
 " Oh ! " he laughed, as her eyes sought his 
 questioningly. " What is there to tell ? I 
 believe I grew up in such a commonplace 
 way that I was scarcely conscious of the pro- 
 cess. To be one of a family of seven is n't 
 conducive to personal consideration. I had n't 
 even the distinction of being the eldest or the 
 1 02
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 youngest, but was tucked away and lost sight 
 of in the middle." 
 
 " Nurse has been telling me things," Con- 
 stance said wisely. 
 
 " What dreadful truths has she revealed ? " 
 
 " Quite the opposite of dreadful." 
 
 " And you believed her? Why, you your- 
 self pronounced her partial ! " 
 
 " She told me," Constance pursued, " that 
 
 after you had worked and worked through 
 
 ^college and the medical school, you at last 
 
 gained a splendid practice, you were a rising 
 
 young doctor, then you " 
 
 "Yes, then I flunked," Leighton inter- 
 rupted, " and that was the end of all my fine 
 hopes. You see mine was a different variety 
 of disappointment from yours, but they are 
 all alike in the grasp they try to take. We 
 have to decide pretty quickly whether they 
 shall throw us or we them. I always thought 
 it must be uncomfortable to be the under 
 dog, so I Ve avoided the position." 
 
 "You speak lightly," Constance said, 
 103
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 leaning toward him. "You would have 
 avoided mentioning it entirely. And think 
 how I have babbled on like a running 
 brook ! " 
 
 " The brook must have its outlet," Da- 
 vid answered. " I profited by being the still 
 lake." 
 
 "You have a faculty of taking advantage 
 of your opportunities quite refreshing to 
 me." 
 
 " A mere matter of necessity, I assure you. 
 As you have n't had this helpful training, 
 what you have learned reflects more credit on 
 yourself." 
 
 " You have taught me much." 
 
 " And I could have taught you nothing if 
 you had n't been as you are. I was reading 
 just the other day, ( Man kann nur demjeni- 
 gen geben, der einem schon etwas Gleiches 
 entgegenbringt.' ' 
 
 " Which in plain English means : ' We 
 can give our ideas to people only when they 
 meet them with something similar.' Yes, I 
 104
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 like that. What a good, convincing way they 
 have of putting things." 
 
 " You care for German, then ? " 
 
 " I love it dearly. It must be that the 
 something in me which distrusts French vi- 
 vacity responds to German sturdiness." 
 
 " What a serious child it is ! " the man said 
 quizzically. " Because a thing is gay, need it 
 necessarily be false ? " 
 
 " Quite the contrary. I confess to a weak- 
 ness for a light veneer of gayety as protection 
 for something underneath. But so often one 
 digs down and finds nothing." 
 
 " Perhaps you were n't digging for the right 
 thing. One is n't likely to find gold in a coal 
 mine, or diamonds in gold fields but that 
 does n't disprove the excellent qualities of 
 either." 
 
 Constance laughed softly. 
 
 " There is no need to dispute you this 
 morning," she said. " It is all so satisfying." 
 
 She turned from him with a sweeping, all- 
 inclusive gesture. 
 
 105
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 The man looked across the sunny meadows 
 to the veiled hills, then back at the girl's face, 
 and there his eyes rested. 
 
 " Completely satisfying," he answered. 
 
 " Is n't it odd ! " Constance added slowly, 
 " that the more one can say to a person the 
 easier it is to keep silent. A hundred ideas 
 come popping into my head that you and I 
 might discuss, but with them the comfortable 
 feeling that it is n't necessary." 
 
 A quick look of sympathy flashed across 
 the man's face. 
 
 " The fact that we are both so contented 
 here is a stronger bond than words could 
 make," he said. " And yet I like to hear your 
 voice," he suggested a little later. 
 
 He had lain quiet for several moments, with 
 eyes closed, while Constance bent over her 
 sewing. 
 
 " When / was a little boy," he resumed, 
 for no answer came, " they used to tell me 
 not to use my eyes in the sun." 
 
 " What ingratitude ! " gasped Constance. 
 106
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 " Indoors it is shady. I take the hint " 
 and gathering up her work, she darted from 
 him toward the house. 
 
 In her flight, her work basket fell to the 
 ground, and spools and thimble rolled under 
 David's chair. Before she could reach them 
 he had sprung and picked them up. 
 
 "You can't play any such trick on me," he 
 laughed, as Constance tried to regain her pro- 
 perty. "You thought it an excellent pretext 
 to run away and leave me, did you ? " 
 
 Constance admitted the deceit. 
 
 " I call that a cruel way to treat an inva- 
 lid." 
 
 " Nurse and I are going to change places 
 at twelve. She comes back here to get your 
 dinner, and I go to the Deans. Come if 
 you '11 give back my thimble I '11 finish my 
 sewing here and then fly." 
 
 David was balancing the thimble on his 
 little finger, and studying the contents of the 
 work-box. 
 
 " There is something very attractive about 
 107
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 little things like these," he said musingly. " I 
 suppose it 's because they are so essentially 
 feminine. Do you know, if I were to come 
 into a strange house, and find a sewing-basket 
 open on the table, I should immediately feel 
 at home." 
 
 " Sewing does seem a natural attribute of 
 woman, and yet unfortunately it is an acquired 
 habit with me," Constance sighed. " And I 
 have always wondered how far it is wise to 
 cultivate uncongenial tastes." 
 
 " Do you think your powers lie in some 
 other direction ? " 
 
 " I hope so. It seems as though I must 
 have some gift for the artistic, when I am so 
 utterly stupid in the practical." 
 
 " What a woman's argument ! " laughed 
 the man. " But if the comment is not wholly 
 irrelevant, it seems to me that you sew very 
 well." 
 
 " This is simple work. Just an apron for 
 Lucy, to save her few frocks." 
 
 " It looks wonderfully intricate to me." 
 108
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 " I should have heartily agreed with you a 
 little while ago. Now I can afford to make 
 light of it, for it is done actually done." 
 
 Constance waved the small checked apron 
 triumphantly in the air. 
 
 " You are going to leave me ? " the man 
 asked. "Where is your soft-heartedness ? " 
 
 With hands thrust deep in his pockets, he 
 was strolling back and forth in the sunny 
 corner of the garden. 
 
 "If you 're going away, I 'm going with 
 you." 
 
 "No, not to-day. I Ve pampered you 
 enough for one morning. Women have an 
 illogical way of spoiling men, then blaming 
 them for making selfish husbands. You see 
 when I am firm with you I 'm consider- 
 ing the future happiness of some fair un- 
 known." 
 
 Constance flushed with remorse the mo- 
 ment the words were spoken. But he had 
 looked deceptively strong and independent as 
 he stood before her. 
 
 109
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 " I 'm not likely to become any one's hus- 
 band," Leighton answered with his usual 
 directness, "so I don't need such careful train- 
 ing. However, if you insist, let me escort 
 you to the gate." 
 
 " I feel so important ! " Constance laughed, 
 " being actually needed in two places at once." 
 
 " I 'm getting jealous of those Deans," 
 David grumbled. 
 
 Constance was looking down the road. 
 
 " I see Nurse coming," she said, " so I 'm 
 not so necessary after all." 
 
 The man, however, apparently held a dif- 
 ferent opinion. 
 
 "When are you coming home ? " he asked, 
 leaning over the gate. " You must n't take 
 that lonely road after dark, even with Sandy." 
 
 " How silly ! I submit, however, as I was 
 intending to come at supper-time." 
 
 " I shall be on the lookout from my sky 
 parlor." 
 
 When Nurse Martin came into the garden, 
 some moments later, she found her patient at 
 no
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 the gate, watching a white speck vanishing in 
 the distance. 
 
 " I was hoping she might look back at the 
 bend of the road," he explained.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 II 
 
 IHEY had climbed the winding 
 path, and were resting among the 
 great trees on top of Pine Moun- 
 tain. 
 
 " Have we been here before together, or 
 have we all our lives dreamed of coming ? " 
 Constance said slowly. 
 
 "It does seem part of a half-forgotten 
 dream," David answered. " I suppose it 's 
 the piny smell. But let 's make no explana- 
 tions. Let's be part of this fairyland, and 
 fall under its enchantment." 
 
 He looked up into the trees where the 
 gray squirrels were springing lightly from 
 branch to branch. 
 
 " Perhaps we played together like that 
 thousands of years ago," he said lazily. 
 Constance was sitting at the foot of a great 
 112
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 pine. She had tossed aside her wide-brimmed 
 hat to rest her head comfortably against the 
 broad trunk, and the sunlight fell in bright 
 patches on her hair. 
 
 "It's all changed to gold again, "David said. 
 
 He flung himself on the ground among 
 the dry leaves and pine needles, and stared 
 upward through the waving treetops. 
 
 " What Skimpoles we all are ! " he laughed, 
 " with our ( positive talent for lying on our 
 backs and gazing up at the sky.' 
 
 "And this is where you and Sandy pic- 
 nicked ? " he asked presently. 
 
 The dog, who was still Constance's de- 
 voted follower, raised his head and wagged 
 his tail gently at the sound of his name. 
 
 "Yes, I seem to know it all," David re- 
 sumed. "Just as though I really had been 
 here with you. There is the fallen pine whose 
 lot you so envied." 
 
 " What a stupid wish that was ! " Constance 
 cried. " Life may be sad, but oh, it is beau- 
 tiful ! " 
 
 "3
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 David, with chin propped on his hand, was 
 watching every changing expression of the 
 girl's brilliant, sensitive face. 
 
 " Beautiful," he echoed. 
 
 She turned from him to gaze dreamily into 
 the depths of the cool green trees. 
 
 " What are you thinking about ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " Of the enchanted princess who lived in 
 the wood." 
 
 " And was this the wood ? " 
 
 "I think so. At least it was yesterday, 
 when I told the children the story." 
 
 "Oh, yes, you were to 'finish it to-mor- 
 row/ I remember." 
 
 "No, not to finish it just to tell some 
 more. That is the charm of making up sto- 
 ries for children. They never really finish, 
 even with that conclusive but delightfully in- 
 definite, 'And so they lived happily together 
 forever after.' Next day comes the old re- 
 quest, 'Tell some more about the enchanted 
 princess.' And it makes no difference that 
 114
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 the prince hs found her and waked her with 
 a kiss. One must go back again and make 
 up new adventures. And all sorts of delight- 
 ful possibilities filled my head as I looked 
 into the woods just now." 
 
 David nodded sympathetically. 
 
 "It is Guy's story, you know, invented 
 for him, and I thought it died with him. 
 Is n't it wonderful to find that faculties are 
 not lost, only slumbering waiting to be 
 stirred ! " 
 
 "Tell some more about the enchanted 
 princess," David urged. " Once upon a 
 
 time" 
 
 
 
 Constance leaned back against the tree- 
 trunk and half closed her eyes. 
 
 " Once upon a time, then, a beautiful 
 maiden slept on a mossy bank in the midst 
 of a dense forest. And her reflection was 
 mirrored in a crystal lake. She was folded 
 in a royal robe, and on her shining hair was 
 a jeweled crown. A pile of gold glittered at 
 her feet. But he could not win her, who 
 
 "5
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 sought only her riches. Her good fairy had 
 beset the way thither with such difficulties 
 that it could be found only by one virtuous, 
 unselfish, and brave." 
 
 " And did such a one appear ? " 
 
 "After long ages. Each midsummer's 
 day the princess would wake and ask the 
 fairy, ' Has my rightful lord come to claim 
 me ? ' And the fairy would make answer, 
 ' Not yet, but there is a way for him who 
 will follow it. Some have lost it through cow- 
 ardice, some through cruelty, many through 
 lack of perseverance. Fair lady, do you de- 
 sire to wed with such as these ? ' 
 
 "'No,' answered the princess, f I will await 
 the coming of my true knight.' 
 
 "And again she would fall into deep slum- 
 ber. 
 
 f "At last, after long hardship and sacrifice, 
 one who had set forth in the courage of 
 youth stood on the border of the crystal 
 lake. But just as he would have leapt into 
 the water to swim to the mossy bank and 
 116
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 claim the princess, he caught sight of his own 
 reflection that of an old man, gray, bent, 
 and wrinkled. 
 
 "'Alas!' he cried. ' Whosoever wakes the 
 princess she must marry, and it were sin for 
 her to wed with such as I. But, before I 
 turn back, I will look upon her once, that I 
 may remember her all my days.' 
 
 " So saying, he plunged into the icy water. 
 On the farther shore he turned to look once 
 again at his reflection. Gray hair and wrinkles 
 had disappeared. He was young and hand- 
 some as when he set forth upon his journey. 
 
 "Joyfully he sprang up the mossy bank 
 gazed long and rapturously at the sleeping 
 princess, scarcely daring to wake her then 
 at last he sank on his knees and tenderly 
 kissed her. 
 
 "The princess slowly opened her eyes. 
 f Has my true knight ?' she began to ask. 
 Then she saw the prince smiling down upon 
 her, and in her own eyes was no fear or won- 
 der only a great peace. 
 117
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 " f You have come at last,' she murmured. 
 ' It is for you I have long waited.' 
 
 " And he folded her in his arms. Then " 
 
 " Ah, let us stop there," interrupted David. 
 " That is such a good place to leave them." 
 
 Constance laughed. 
 
 "And you don't care to know that they 
 lived happily forever after? Evidently you 
 don't like the story as the children do." 
 
 " On the contrary, they can't begin to like 
 it as I do. Do you really tell them this same 
 story ? " 
 
 "Almost the same," Constance answered 
 rather dreamily. " One naturally varies a lit- 
 tle to suit one's hearers, don't you think so ? 
 I suppose I tell the children more of adven- 
 ture and you more of Why, how late 
 it 's getting. You know we promised to be 
 prompt at luncheon." 
 
 " What do you tell me more of? " asked 
 David. 
 
 " Suppose we run down the mountain on 
 the other side," Constance suggested. 
 118
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 " Have you ever done it ? " 
 
 " Never." 
 
 " Have you an idea where it leads ? " 
 
 " Not the least." 
 
 " Then let 's do it ! " 
 
 From the mountain-top they looked down 
 upon Constance's toy village, and the wind- 
 ing river which flowed through it. Then, 
 like two children, they caught hold of hands, 
 and ran laughing down the mountain side. 
 
 In the valley below they paused for breath. 
 
 " What do you tell me ' more of ? " Da- 
 vid demanded. 
 
 But Constance only laughed at him, and 
 said that they must hurry home.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 III 
 
 WONDER if there are two sad- 
 dle horses to be found in the vil- 
 lage," Leighton asked one day at 
 dinner. 
 
 "Two ? " Constance queried. 
 " Yes two. You ride, of course ? " 
 " I guess Si Fletcher 's got two prime ones 
 over 't the Red Farm," their host volun- 
 teered. 
 
 " Don't you take his word for it, Mas- 
 ter David," Nurse Martin interposed, beam- 
 ing across the table as she spoke. "He 
 don't know a saddle horse from a Jersey 
 cow." 
 
 " Well, I 'd probably find one as agreeable 
 
 to ride as the other," her husband admitted. 
 
 " But Fletcher has got two good uns just the 
 
 same. Don't you recollect, Nancy, how he 
 
 1 20
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 bought 'em for that high-falutin daughter 
 of his, so she would n't be lonesome when 
 she come home from college ? Well, he got 
 her a man to ride with What do you call 
 him ? A groom ? An' that girl had no 
 sooner got the hang of ridin' than off they 
 scooted one dark night eloped, mind you ! 
 Si found the horses next mornin' twenty 
 miles away, down by the Barret Station, 
 where the couple had skipped into the train 
 for Boston. He 's never forgiven 'em, so 
 he 's had the horses on his hands ever since." 
 
 " Steve, I don't think that 's a nice story 
 to tell these young folks," his wife ob- 
 jected. 
 
 " Oh, I don't believe there 's anythin* 
 catchin' in it," Martin answered. " I guess 
 the horses are safe as any others for that mat- 
 ter." 
 
 They were all laughing merrily as they 
 
 pushed back their chairs and rose from the 
 
 table. In fact, laughter was a frequent guest 
 
 at these simple kitchen meals which Con- 
 
 121
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 stance and David agreed were more delight- 
 ful than any dinner they had ever attended. 
 
 Constance had tied a checked apron around 
 her waist, and was bustling about the kitchen 
 with an air of importance worthy of Nurse 
 Martin herself. 
 
 "You busy people put me to shame," 
 David called from the doorstep. 
 
 He and Steve were enjoying that sense of 
 rest which belongs to the noon hour on the 
 farm. The smoke from their pipes drifted 
 lazily through the open doorway. 
 
 " I 'm off to the Red Farm," he called a 
 little later, " to get those eloping horses." 
 
 They rode together all that glorious after- 
 noon, through red and gold woods, dappled 
 with sunshine, or out upon open stretches of 
 rolling green. And always beyond ever 
 changing in aspect with the changing shadows, 
 from gray to blue, and from blue to purple 
 stood the silent hills. 
 In the rough wood paths the horses, with 
 
 122
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 heads bent, picked their way daintily among 
 fallen trees and treacherous holes. Here 
 their riders, letting the reins hang loose, 
 talked sense or nonsense, as they felt in- 
 clined. Out on the open road where the 
 horses flung their heads in air and broke into 
 a swinging canter, their riders, abandoning 
 themselves to the joy of motion, fell into 
 happy silences. 
 
 After a mad gallop over a smooth bit of 
 road they drew rein sharply at the top of a 
 steep hill. 
 
 " Oh, how glorious ! " Constance cried. 
 " It almost consoles one for the lack of 
 wings." 
 
 The color flamed in her cheeks and her eyes 
 shone. She put her hand to her hair, which 
 had fallen in soft confusion in her neck. 
 
 "That last wild plunge was too much for 
 my poor old topknot," she laughed. " We 
 must stop for repairs." 
 
 The man, nothing loath, turned in his sad- 
 dle and watched her seriously. 
 123
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 " I always wondered how you got all those 
 little puffs and coils," he said. 
 
 " It 's very simple," the girl answered 
 lightly. " You pat it here, and poke it there. 
 Oh, dear ! " Her horse had stamped an im- 
 patient foot, and a rattling sound on the 
 stones below announced the sudden descent 
 of her hairpins. 
 
 David slipped to the ground, and picked 
 up the fallen property. 
 
 " That 's the way," Constance told him, 
 as he handed the pins to her one by one. 
 " Those little ones first. Now the big shell 
 no, the dark one. Oh, it 's broken ! No 
 wonder. Now the combs. That 's it first 
 one, then the other. You make a very good 
 lady's maid." 
 
 She looked laughingly into his eyes, then 
 as suddenly looked away. 
 
 With a deft pat she smoothed the last un- 
 ruly lock into place, all except a few reckless 
 curls around her forehead, which refused to 
 be restrained. 
 
 124
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 " Are you waiting for me ? " she asked 
 presently, for the man had not stirred. " I 'm 
 ready." 
 
 He withdrew his eyes abruptly, and turned 
 away from her. 
 
 " I was n't waiting," he answered. Then 
 he grasped the horses firmly by their bridles, 
 and helped them make the sharp descent of 
 the hill. 
 
 How strong he looked! Constance thought 
 as she watched his broad shoulders and well- 
 set head. Now he pressed back against her 
 horse, now against his own to steady them 
 as they lost footing for a moment on the roll- 
 ing stones ! The descent had brought them 
 into a quiet valley. Above them, Pine Moun- 
 tain loomed black against the sky. Below 
 them, undulating meadows swept far away to 
 the eastward. He came closer to her, and 
 rested his hand on her horse's neck. She quiv- 
 ered with the consciousness that the caress 
 was for her. 
 
 For a moment the little group stood in 
 125
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 silence. The horses with ears delicately pricked 
 were gazing off at the peaceful landscape, as 
 though seeking some sign of life. 
 
 At last, impelled against her will, Con- 
 stance's eyes met David's, her own dark 
 with suppressed feeling. His fingers closed 
 over her hand as it lay idle upon the pom- 
 mel. 
 
 " And so it has come," he said gently. 
 " It had to come, you know." 
 
 For an instant they remained thus. Then 
 with the instinct of the captured creature 
 Constance turned from him, and drew her 
 hand away. When she spoke, it was in a 
 faint voice, unlike her own. 
 
 " You speak as though you thought I 
 cared," she whispered. 
 
 The light leaped into the man's eyes. " I 
 don't think ! " he answered. " I know ! Lis- 
 ten ! " he went on, before she could answer. 
 " It is n't Constance North, the cold woman 
 of the world, and David Leighton, practical 
 man of affairs, confessing love for each other. 
 126
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 We Ve left those outer shells way behind us, 
 down there somewhere. It 's our real selves, 
 the selves that have^grown and expanded up 
 here in the warm sunlight and the pure air, 
 that are speaking out. Have n't you felt all 
 along how we Ve been drawing nearer and 
 nearer until at last " 
 
 Still the woman's pride held her in leash. 
 
 "You take my love for granted," she mur- 
 mured. " No man has ever done that." 
 
 " I 'm sorry," David answered whimsically, 
 " that I compare so unfavorably with your 
 other experiences. Perhaps it 's lack of 
 practice. You 're the only woman I ever 
 loved. 
 
 " Why, it was inevitable ! " he added 
 quietly, as Constance did not speak. "God 
 just put us here in the sunshine, and made us 
 love each other. I suppose the first man and 
 the first woman felt the same way." 
 
 In Constance's mind arose the image of 
 men and women who had loved throughout 
 the ages. Some had married and had lived 
 127
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 in peace together ; others Fate had kept 
 apart. These last, in sad procession, seemed 
 to pass before her. 
 
 " What are we going to do about it ? " she 
 asked tremulously. 
 
 The man smiled. Then she saw that she 
 had broken down the barrier which she had 
 struggled to hold, and that her love stood 
 confessed. 
 
 " Do about it ? " David cried. " I intend 
 to be as insanely happy as any man has a 
 right to be who has won a good woman's 
 love. I 'm going to keep it and cherish it. 
 It will be the ruling passion of my life " 
 His voice broke. " As long as I live," he 
 added slowly. 
 
 Constance looked down into his upturned 
 face, at the blazing eyes, the strong chin, and 
 resolute mouth. His spirit swayed hers, and 
 made her share his exaltation. It was not a 
 time for questioning, for trying to fathom the 
 future. In that vivid moment she realized 
 that it was part of the order of their life on 
 128
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 the mountain peak that they should conceal 
 nothing, that her love should answer his. 
 
 David's head was bowed against her knee, 
 and she rested her hands upon it. 
 
 " You have come at last," she said softly, 
 and unconsciously she used the words in the 
 fairy tale. " I have always waited for you." 
 
 Their horses moved uneasily. The sun 
 had slipped behind the hills, and the twilight 
 breeze was cool. The pines rose dark against 
 a background of glowing red. 
 
 David leapt into the saddle, and they set 
 forth at a gallop, with faces turned toward 
 the light.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 IV 
 
 |ND it is all coming out beauti- 
 fully," Constance was saying. " It 
 will all be so simple ! " 
 
 " Simple, my dear, because you 
 have arranged it so perfectly," Mrs. Dean 
 answered warmly. 
 
 She could not raise her head from the 
 couch, but she smiled into Constance's eyes, 
 and pressed the cool fingers which clasped 
 hers. 
 
 " Everybody writes so encouragingly," 
 Constance continued. " They all seem to 
 understand just what I mean. I Ve only 
 to make the final arrangements when I go to 
 town Thursday, then we shall send for you, 
 and then " Constance ran on, unfolding 
 her plans as she had done in her letter to 
 David that day on Pine Mountain. 
 130
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 Mrs. Dean said little, but wat.ched in 
 quiet contentment the animated face so close 
 to hers. It had been an exciting afternoon 
 at the parsonage, with the unusual festivity 
 of two visitors at tea, and now she was con- 
 tent to lie back among her pillows and lis- 
 ten. Presently steps sounded upon the stairs. 
 
 " There come those men I " Constance 
 exclaimed, " to interrupt us." 
 
 Then her name was called and she went 
 swiftly into the hall. 
 
 "There are two small people up above," 
 announced the minister, " who refuse to go 
 to sleep until a certain lady has kissed them 
 good night." 
 
 " We Ve done our best to make up," 
 David affirmed, " but they still foolishly 
 persist that they want you." 
 
 He leaned back against the wall to let 
 Constance pass him on the narrow staircase, 
 and they smiled into each other's eyes. 
 
 " One of those childish fancies," Constance 
 laughed as she brushed lightly by him. " And
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 to think that we 're just as important to them 
 as our grown-ups used to be to us ! " 
 
 A little later she came down among them, 
 her hair tumbled and her cheeks glowing. 
 " It 's good to be loved," she said. Appar- 
 ently she spoke to the fire which the minis- 
 ter was stirring, for the October twilight was 
 cool. David, however, sitting by Mrs. Dean's 
 couch, heard and flushed in the darkness. 
 
 Presently when they rose to go, Mrs. Dean 
 drew the girl's head down to hers upon the 
 pillow. 
 
 " God bless you, dear, and give you cour- 
 age," she whispered. 
 
 The minister went with them to the door. 
 As he helped Constance with her wrap he 
 tried to form a polite phrase of gratitude, but 
 he stumbled hopelessly. 
 
 " Take care ! " the girl laughed. " You 're 
 putting me into the wrong sleeve." Then 
 their fingers met in an understanding clasp. 
 
 He pulled David's coat into place, as pre- 
 text for resting his hand a moment on the 
 132
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 man's shoulder. " No need to say good-by 
 to you" he said. " We '11 see each other 
 again." 
 
 " Of course," David answered heartily. It 
 was easier not to face the truth. 
 
 Their host lingered on the threshold. 
 u Won't you have a lantern ? " he asked, 
 peering out into the dusk. 
 
 " No thanks," David called from the 
 path. " The moon will soon be up." 
 
 The door closed and the patch of light in 
 which they had stood faded. There was a 
 frosty breath in the air. David settled his 
 chin firmly into his coat collar, and set out 
 with a resolute swing. The road stretched 
 before them, a gleaming strip of white, and 
 their footsteps rang out with sharp distinct- 
 ness as they followed it in silence. Once 
 David asked if the pace were too rapid, and 
 Constance, unwilling to admit defeat, answered 
 that it was not. But at the stile where they 
 left the main road for a short cut through the 
 birch woods her breath came unevenly. She 
 133
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 paused, then hurried her steps to follow the 
 dark figure striding on before her. 
 
 " Look out for the rough places ! " the man 
 said over his shoulder. But at that moment 
 she tripped on a stone, stumbled, and fell. 
 
 He was at her side in an instant, but when 
 he would have drawn her to her feet, she 
 slipped back against the rock where she had 
 fallen. 
 
 " Just let me sit still a moment," she 
 begged. 
 
 " Constance ! " he cried, bending over her. 
 " What is it ? Why, you 're crying ! " 
 
 " Yes," she answered vaguely, " I 'm cry- 
 ing. I don't know why." 
 
 " I know," he groaned. " I Ve tired you 
 out I 'm a beast I did n't realize " 
 
 He knelt beside her, making little dabs at 
 her cheeks with his handkerchief, but they 
 were all ineffectual to stem the torrent. 
 
 " No," Constance murmured. " It was n't 
 that. It was like Fate following blindly on 
 and on not being able to stop. All those
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 silent years to come seemed to stretch before 
 me." She pressed her hand against her side. 
 " And that lonely feeling," she whispered. 
 
 " Lonely ? " he asked. " Why, we were to- 
 gether, dear." 
 
 " Were we ? But you seemed so far away. 
 It was n't the real you that big still thing 
 towering above me." 
 
 For an instant she clung to him like some 
 wild thing seeking shelter, but there was no 
 response in his touch, and she drew away. 
 
 " How can you bear it ? " she asked won- 
 deringly. 
 
 " What? " he answered huskily, because he 
 could think of nothing better to say. 
 
 She winked away the tears impatiently. 
 
 " Oh ! all all," she cried, stretching out 
 her arms. " Seeing other people's homes, 
 then being shut out into the darkness 
 caressing other people's children, and know- 
 ing that you will never " Her voice broke. 
 
 " Dear child it 's different with us," the 
 man said. Kneeling, his face was on a level 
 
 135
 
 with hers, but still he did not touch her. 
 " This has been a wonderful experience 
 perfect a thing by itself four weeks out 
 of all eternity spent together. Don't hurt it 
 by wishing it different." 
 
 "Oh!" the girl cried passionately. "If 
 you care, how can you say that ? You make 
 an episode of it something without past or 
 future. To be real it must have its roots in 
 our very being, and it must go on and 
 on." 
 
 " It will," the man answered, " but in our 
 own way, not in the usual way of the world. 
 Listen, dear." 
 
 " No, no ! " the girl protested. " Don't 
 speak of that negative, colorless form of hap- 
 piness that we have to make for ourselves 
 when we can't get the other. Oh ! I 'm weary 
 of subterfuge of trying to persuade myself 
 that I can do without what other women 
 have. Weary weary of it, I say." 
 
 Her head fell forward against her knees, 
 and for a few moments there was silence. It 
 136
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 was the man's brief touch upon her hair which 
 roused her. 
 
 " Constance," he began gently. But she 
 drew away, and in her eyes was a hard glitter 
 which he could not bear to see. She seemed 
 scarcely to notice him. 
 
 " Must the cup always be dashed from my 
 lips just as I am about to drink ? " she whis- 
 pered. 
 
 David groaned. The sound arrested her, 
 and she looked at him sadly. 
 
 " I know what you 're thinking," she said 
 slowly, " that we 've been granted something 
 which comes to few people. I know it. But 
 I would choose the old, usual way. I can't 
 be of much use to the world in general, but 
 to love " 
 
 The man caught at a straw desperately. 
 
 " You can be of use," he said. " Think 
 what you have done ! " 
 
 " Yes, you have buoyed me up with some 
 unnatural power. Yesterday, when I knew 
 that you loved me, I climbed to your height 
 137
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 for a little while. I 've been full of helping 
 the Deans to-day but it could n't last. See 
 how it has left me." 
 
 She stretched out her hands, and they were 
 limp and nerveless. 
 
 " Strength will come to you," David said 
 gravely, "if you demand it." 
 
 " And what is strength ? Is n't it possible 
 to confuse the strength which can renounce 
 with the weakness which lacks the power to 
 hold? It's so simple to give up when one 
 is indifferent. It 's a question, / say, of how 
 much one cares. Perhaps you " She broke 
 off with a nervous little laugh. " Oh ! I 'm 
 absurd," she cried, "unmaidenly laying 
 bare these poor tattered feelings. But it 's a 
 woman's way to hold desperately to what she 
 believes to be hers. A man can put aside and 
 forget." 
 
 David sprang to his feet. 
 
 " Constance, you can't think that ? " he 
 cried, " when you know that we have touched 
 the real you and I, together." 
 138
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 "What is real, I wonder?" the girl said 
 musingly. " Look ! " 
 
 She had risen and turned from him. Da- 
 vid's eyes followed the direction in which she 
 was pointing. A white trail of mist was 
 shrouding the land. In its clinging folds the 
 outlines of valley, hill, and sky were indistin- 
 guishably blended ; and partly obscured by 
 a filmy veil the moon gleamed coldly. 
 
 " Look at Pine Mountain ! " Constance 
 cried, " looming like a spectral thing. You 
 can't tell where its peak stops, and where the 
 clouds begin. You think you are looking at 
 something substantial, and it fades away into 
 nothing. That is the way with life." 
 
 " Don't, dear," David begged, going to 
 her side. " Everything is weird and fantastic 
 to-night. Come home." 
 
 Her eyes met his, unseeingly at first, 
 but suddenly life came back to them, and a 
 new expression, indicating a swift change of 
 mood, flashed across her face. She sprang 
 from him toward a clump of white birches 
 
 139
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 which stood slim and silent in the moonlight. 
 In her dark cloak, her figure was clearly out- 
 lined against the pale tree-trunk. The white 
 scarf which she wore about her head had 
 slipped to her shoulders, and the light caught 
 the shining tints in her hair, turning it as 
 David loved to see it to gold. 
 
 The instincts prompting this action were 
 not the finest in her nature, yet neither did 
 they imply a feeling essentially unworthy. 
 Hers was but the elemental desire, latent in 
 all animal nature, to attract and to hold. 
 
 " Look at me, David ! " she cried, flinging 
 back her head, and with the motion her throat 
 gleamed like a round white column in the 
 light. " / am real alive in every fibre 
 the woman you love ! " 
 
 For a moment the man watched her in 
 silence. His face was stern and set. Then 
 he went to her, drew the scarf over her hair, 
 and tied it with firm fingers. 
 
 " We must go," he said. 
 
 Suddenly he turned from her shaken by a 
 140
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 spasm of coughing, violent and uncontrolla- 
 ble. 
 
 All at once Constance became aware that 
 the white mist, creeping'gradually nearer, was 
 closing in around them. She sprang to his 
 side, and snatching the scarf from her head, 
 wrapped it around his neck. 
 
 " Fool ! " she cried to herself bitterly. 
 " Selfish fool ! Shall I ever learn, I won- 
 der?" 
 
 She slipped her hand under his arm to 
 support him. To help him was her one de- 
 sire. 
 
 The paroxysm of coughing over, he would 
 have given back the scarf, but she refused to 
 take it, and instead drew it protectingly across 
 his mouth. 
 
 " And you don't object to walking with an 
 animated ghost ? " he asked quizzically. 
 
 " Don't talk, dear child, in the dampness," 
 she begged. 
 
 " But I want to be sure you 're with me 
 before we set out upon this sea of dreams." 
 141
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 She felt that he was fumbling for her hand, 
 and she slid it into his. In silence they walked 
 home together. 
 
 At the doorway stood Nurse Martin, peer- 
 ing anxiously into the darkness. 
 
 "You are late, children dear," she called, 
 " but there '11 be a hot supper ready for you 
 in a minute." 
 
 And she drew them into the light and 
 warmth.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 JHEY were sitting on the sunny 
 porch together the minister and 
 his wife. It was the first time in 
 many weeks that the invalid had 
 been out of doors, and the crisp air was bring- 
 ing back the color to her cheeks. 
 
 " I don't know," she said musingly, as 
 though resuming a former thread of conver- 
 sation, " whether it 's the freedom from re- 
 sponsibility, or the thought that I shall soon 
 be well, that makes me so happy. No," 
 she added, sudden radiance dawning in her 
 face, " it 's the knowledge that some one 
 cares that it makes a real difference to 
 some one whether we fall under our burdens 
 or have a chance to rise and take up our lives 
 again." 
 
 The minister, gazing off toward the shad- 
 
 H3
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 owy hills, had been silently planning his fare- 
 well sermon to his people, and yet he was 
 quite conscious also of his wife's words. He 
 was leaning lightly upon the arm of her chair, 
 and now he turned and pressed her hand. 
 
 " Do you know," Mrs. Dean went on 
 slowly, "when she first made the offer to us, 
 and I feared that with that dreadful pride of 
 yours you would refuse it, my anxiety was n't 
 so much for us as for her. I felt that it was 
 the one thing that could save her. She 's the 
 sort of woman who must pour out her soul 
 on some one." 
 
 " I know," her husband answered. " And 
 as soon as I realized it, that demon pride was 
 put to rout. Tell me," he added slowly, 
 "did she say anything to you about their 
 plans ? " 
 
 " Only that they would go down to Bos- 
 ton together to-morrow, that she would go 
 to her house and arrange about the refur- 
 nishing for us, and that he would leave im- 
 mediately for the West. His mother and 
 144
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 sister are waiting for him in Colorado, you 
 know. She told me just that yesterday, when 
 you and he were upstairs, and it seemed more 
 as if she thought I would like to know, than 
 that she wished to talk about it." 
 
 The minister nodded. "It was the same 
 with him," he said reminiscently. 
 
 "And they ask no advice, and need 
 none," his wife said. "Oh, they are won- 
 derful ! " 
 
 "They have learned what the Master 
 meant," her husband answered dreamily, 
 " when he said, f If any man will come after 
 me, let him deny himself, and take up his 
 cross, and follow me.' ' 
 
 But the woman's thoughts were on tem- 
 poral things. 
 
 " Oh, think of the years the empty years 
 they will be in the same world, breathing 
 the same sunny air" she stretched out her 
 arms to it " and yet not together ! " 
 
 " c For whosoever will save his life shall 
 lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for 
 H5
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 my sake, shall find it,' " murmured the min- 
 ister. 
 
 His thoughts were still weaving themselves 
 into the sermon. 
 
 There was a shout from outside. The chil- 
 dren, ruddy and glowing with exercise, were 
 playing together on the lawn. 
 
 " I 'm a polo bear ! " called Lucy, " and 
 Jackie's a hippypottymus, and he's trying 
 to climb onto my cake of ice ! " 
 
 Tears rushed into the mother's eyes, for 
 she was still weak, and a very little thing 
 would upset her. 
 
 " Oh, my dear ! " she said, putting her hand 
 on her husband's arm, " with all our poverty 
 and anxiety and illness, think how lucky we 
 are, for we have each other and them ! "
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 VI 
 
 was on Pine Mountain that their 
 last tryst was kept. No word had 
 been given, and yet as Constance 
 climbed the leafy path, dappled 
 with sunshine and shadow, she knew that 
 David soon would follow. 
 
 The faithful Sandy acted as body-guard, 
 and now and again he turned to look wistfully 
 down toward the valley, then came back to 
 her side whimpering softly. 
 
 All day there had been sounds which he 
 had distrusted. Early in the morning trunks 
 were brought from the attic, and after that 
 there was much hurrying to and fro. Drear- 
 ily he had left the room where one of his com- 
 panions was at work, only to find the other 
 plunged in the same occupation on the floor 
 above. After dinner, a quieter meal than
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 usual, the farmer had forgotten to feed him. 
 Altogether, the household seemed demoral- 
 ized. 
 
 Now, suddenly, all his woes were forgot- 
 ten. Even before Constance could hear it, 
 his quick ears detected a faint, far-away stir. 
 All eager he bounded down the path, then 
 back to her, with glad barks, proclaiming, 
 " See what I 've brought you. Now let 's be 
 happy ! " And they were. For of the frail- 
 ties of the human mind, one of the most 
 blessed -is its tardiness to recognize a crisis. 
 Afterwards one looks back and wonders how 
 the eyes could have shone and the lips have 
 smiled. 
 
 All through the afternoon they rambled 
 over the mountain together, exploring their 
 favorite haunts, and even discovering new 
 fastnesses. And they talked of many things 
 of most things except the fact that they 
 were soon to part. 
 
 They climbed to the top of the mountain 
 to see the sunset a glorious pageant of 
 148
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 purple and gold, then Constance said that 
 Nurse would be expecting them and they 
 must go. But David laughed, and shook his 
 head mysteriously. 
 
 " I was wise," he said, and he led her to a 
 spot among the bushes where a basket was 
 concealed. 
 
 In fact, Sandy's critical nose was already 
 showing signs of interest. 
 
 Constance stared in amazement. 
 
 " Did you arrange it all this morning, and 
 bring it here ? " she asked. 
 
 "Don't be so prosaic!" David begged. 
 " It 's a gift from the fairies, and here is our 
 table all flat and smooth, waiting to be 
 spread." 
 
 " It will be growing cold when the sun 
 goes down," Constance objected. 
 ' " We '11 build a bonfire." 
 
 " But going home " 
 
 "You mind?" 
 
 " Oh ! not for myself." 
 
 " There 's not a bit of dampness in the air, 
 149
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 and I never felt better in my life," he as- 
 sured her. " Come and gather up sticks." 
 
 They brought armfuls of dry leaves, and 
 brown pitchy pine cones which were sure to 
 sputter and smell deliciously, twigs and 
 branches of all sizes, and lastly some big logs 
 which they tugged together to make the bur- 
 den lighter. 
 
 Then they sank down on the soft carpet 
 of pine needles, laughing and breathless. It 
 was the same spot where they had come on 
 their first ramble, and they leaned against 
 the big fallen pine Constance's early friend 
 for support. 
 
 " You poor old thing ! " the girl said, pat- 
 ting its bark sympathetically. " I 'm only 
 sorry for you now ! " 
 
 Her hat had slipped back upon her head, 
 and the bronze hair was escaping in little 
 joyous curls. Perhaps it was something in 
 the man's face, watching hers so eagerly, 
 which made her spring rather suddenly to 
 her feet. 
 
 150
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 " Don't you feel hungry ? " she asked 
 practically. " Don't you think it 's time for 
 supper ? " 
 
 She pinned her hat to a branch and turned 
 back her cuffs. 
 
 "When one is doing housework one 
 does n't want anything in the way," she ex- 
 plained. 
 
 " You don't mean me, do you ? " David 
 asked. 
 
 They drew the basket from its cubbyhole, 
 and unpacked it together, laughing over each 
 new discovery. 
 
 "This is all Nurse's doing," David said, as 
 he handed out a chicken, robust and beau- 
 tifully brown. "Wouldn't you know it? 
 When she asked me what we would like, I 
 said just to have it a ' s'prise ' the way she 
 used to give us boys when we went camping 
 in the back yard." 
 
 " Did she do that for you, too ? " Con- 
 stance queried, raising her eyes from the 
 basket to look at him eagerly. "She was
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 always arranging them for me in the garden, 
 and for ever so long I thought it was the 
 fairies." 
 
 " What did I tell you ? " David laughed. 
 
 He was lifting out a plate of thin bread 
 and butter sandwiches, heaped generously 
 high. Then there were jams and fresh gin- 
 gerbread, and a complete equipment for tea- 
 making. 
 
 " Nursie never would let her children live 
 on cold food alone," Constance said. 
 
 She had spread a snowy cloth, and David 
 with a critical eye was arranging the dishes 
 upon it. 
 
 As the dusk closed in around them they 
 lighted the bonfire and ate their supper in 
 the cheerful glow. Sandy sitting close at 
 hand was rewarded with choice bits from the 
 feast, and when his companions occasionally 
 became too absorbed to notice him, he re- 
 minded them of his presence by a gentle 
 nudge with his cold nose.' 
 
 " Two 's company eh, old boy ? " Da- 
 152
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 vid said cheerfully, and he tossed him a bit 
 of chicken which Sandy deftly caught. 
 
 " Dear old boy ! " Constance whispered, 
 burying her face in the dog's neck. " Who 
 will love you like this, when we 're gone ? " 
 
 The fire, brilliant at first, had burned low, 
 and they were staring in silence into its glow- 
 ing embers. Constance leaned against the 
 tree-trunk, and David lay curled on the 
 ground in a posture almost as easy as Sandy's 
 own. 
 
 " We 're just a part of it," the man mused 
 aloud. " J ust a little part of this great nature 
 scheme, and to-morrow we shall slip away and 
 be forgotten." 
 
 A burning brand fell from the fire, flash- 
 ing a tongue of flame into the darkness. 
 
 David gave a sudden start. 
 
 " Constance ! " he cried, " we can't. We 
 belong here together you and I." 
 
 He put his hand on hers, and in his touch 
 was that which made her draw away.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 She looked at him gravely a look which 
 bore no earthly desire. 
 
 " I thought so last night," she said, " but 
 to-night I have changed. I know better." 
 
 " And to-night / have changed," the man 
 cried. " I was keeping my real self under as 
 I have all along crushing out the best and 
 the natural because I thought it was right. 
 Oh, dear heart ! it is n't meant that we 
 should suffer so that we who have been 
 coming to each other all these years should 
 give up our love at last." 
 
 He sprang to his feet and came close to 
 her. 
 
 " Look up, dear, at those wonderful stars," 
 he whispered. " They seem to belong to us 
 here. I think they looked down on us in 
 fairyland, when we played there together." 
 
 There was a sound in the treetops. A late 
 bird was calling to his mate. Then again all 
 was silent, save for the wind in the branches. 
 
 Constance did not speak and the man went 
 on passionately.
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 " I had to act as I did. I had to take 
 almost a false position to establish a true one 
 to make myself out cold and hard to rouse 
 you. I knew the spirit was there. No one 
 entirely crushed could have written the letters 
 you did. And soon that wonderful courage 
 of yours asserted itself. But that time of 
 struggle and growth is past. Now " 
 
 " There must be no * now,' " Constance 
 whispered. " It is all a part of the great 
 whole." 
 
 " No, no ! " the man cried. " Now it is 
 different. I want to make up for the harsh 
 treatment. I want just to love you dear, on 
 and on till the end to give you what God 
 meant you to have. Think what it would 
 be!" 
 
 She was very close to him, and he felt that 
 she quivered, but still she did not speak. 
 
 " Listen, dear ! " he said, lowering his 
 voice. " I 'm not talking mere idle words. 
 Look through the trees." 
 
 In the valley below, they could see the 
 
 155
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 lights in the houses, twinkling out one by 
 one. 
 
 "Think of the happy people there. Why 
 should that be denied us ? Look at the grassy 
 hill above the village. The minister will 
 marry us, and we will build our little house 
 and live there. We won't mind the winter 
 snows. We '11 tramp through them, and love 
 them. And then the spring will come green 
 and beautiful. Oh! there must be several 
 winters and springs to come for us " 
 
 Constance covered her face with her hands. 
 
 " You are going to Colorado," she said, and 
 her voice was cold and colorless. "Your 
 mother and sister are waiting there for 
 you." 
 
 "And is my duty to them, and not to 
 you?" 
 
 " It is partly to yourself. The doctor said 
 that you might live there for some years." 
 
 She spoke as one in a dream. 
 
 " And what is length of years ? " David 
 cried. " What is a pale existence out there
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 dragging on and on compared to a little 
 while here with you ? " 
 
 He drew her hands from her face, and with 
 his own encircled her cheeks. He looked 
 long and earnestly into her eyes and would 
 have kissed her,, but that they mutely forbade 
 him. 
 
 " Last night you would have let me," he 
 murmured, releasing her at last. "And to- 
 night when I will " 
 
 She laughed softly, the tension over. 
 " Isn't it always so? " she said. 
 
 " Constance ! " the man cried, " what is it 
 that has changed you so ? " 
 
 "You," she answered. "Think dear. 
 You 've forgotten yourself for an instant. It 's 
 only natural the reaction after a long strain. 
 But you 've been too good a teacher. What 
 I Ve been learning and learning all these 
 weeks I could n't forget, and now when it 's 
 needed" 
 
 "In my time of weakness," David mur- 
 mured. 
 
 157
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 He flung himself down, burying his face in 
 the piny earth. When he raised it the passion 
 was gone. 
 
 "You've saved me from myself," he said. 
 
 " As you saved me last night," she an- 
 swered. 
 
 He touched her hand, and it was cold. 
 
 " Where are your feelings ? " he asked 
 wonderingly. 
 
 "All gone. I have no more. It's better 
 so." 
 
 But her voice belied her. 
 
 Then because of the subtle change which 
 had come, she let him put his arm around 
 her and draw her head against his shoulder. 
 
 The moon peered down through the wav- 
 ing treetops. The night air blew coldly about 
 them. At last she stirred in his arms. 
 
 " Shall it be good-night ? " he asked. 
 
 "Yes, dear good-night." 
 
 And they kissed each other. But it was 
 not born of earthly things. It was the kiss of 
 renunciation. 
 
 158
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE PINES 
 
 As they climbed down the mountain to- 
 gether, they spoke but once. 
 
 " I was a brute to-night," David said. 
 
 " No," Constance answered, " you were 
 human."
 
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