love with her. Hitherto he had allowed himself merely to drift with the
pleasant tide that had been setting in throughout these last weeks. But
the phases that she had shown that afternoon, her spirit, her courage,
her capricious rebelliousness, and, above all, that glimpse into her
heart which he had obtained as she sat on the rock overlooking the wide
sweep where he had had his home, and where the civilization to which it
belonged had had its home, had shown him a new creature, and he plunged
into love. Life appeared suddenly to open wide her gates and flood him
with her rosy light.



CHAPTER IX

MR. KEITH IS UNPRACTICAL, AND MRS. YORKE GIVES HIM GOOD ADVICE

The strolls in the budding woods and the glimpses shown her of a spirit
somewhat different from any she had known were beginning to have their
influence on Alice. It flattered her and filled her with a certain
content that the young school-teacher should like her so much; yet,
knowing herself, it gave her a vague feeling that he was wanting in that
quality of sound judgment which she recognized in some of her other
admirers. It rather frightened her to feel that she was on a pedestal;
and often he soared away from her with his poetry and his fancies, and
she was afraid that he would discover it and think she was a hypocrite.
Something that her mother had said remained in her mind.

"He knows so much, mamma," said Alice one day. "Why, he can quote whole
pages of poetry."