the uneven floor covered with rag rugs and braided corn husk. But
nothing was worth a glance except the perfect face and form within reach
by one spring through the rotten mosquito bar. He gripped the limb above
that on which he stood, licked his lips, and breathed through his throat
to be sure he was making no sound. Elnora closed the book and laid it
aside. She picked up a towel, and turning the gathered ends of her hair
rubbed them across it, and dropping the towel on her lap, tossed the
hair again. Then she sat in deep thought. By and by words began to come
softly. Near as he was the man could not hear at first. He bent closer
and listened intently.

"--ever could be so happy," murmured the soft voice. "The dress is so
pretty, such shoes, the coat, and everything. I won't have to be ashamed
again, not ever again, for the Limberlost is full of precious moths, and
I always can collect them. The Bird Woman will buy more to-morrow, and
the next day, and the next. When they are all gone, I can spend every
minute gathering cocoons, and hunting other things I can sell. Oh, thank
God, for my precious, precious money. Why, I didn't pray in vain after
all! I thought when I asked the Lord to hide me, there in that big
hall, that He wasn't doing it, because I wasn't covered from sight that
instant. But I'm hidden now, I feel that." Elnora lifted her eyes to
the beams above her. "I don't know much about praying properly," she
muttered, "but I do thank you, Lord, for hiding me in your own time and
way."

Her face was so bright that it shone with a white radiance. Two big
tears welled from her eyes, and rolled down her smiling cheeks. "Oh, I
do feel that you have hidden me," she breathed. Then she blew out the
lights, and the little wooden bed creaked under her weight.