The day grew warm, and having finished her tasks indoors and cared for the
poultry, Alida brought a chair out in the porch. Her eyes were dreamy with a
vague, undefined happiness. The landscape in itself was cause for exquisite
pleasure, for it was an ideal day of the apple-blossoming period. The old
orchard back of the barn looked as if pink-and-white clouds had settled upon
it, and scattered trees near and far were exhaling their fragrance. The light
breeze which fanned her cheek and bent the growing rye in an adjacent field
was perfumed beyond the skill of art. Not only were her favorite meadow larks
calling to each other, but the thrushes had come and she felt that she had
never heard such hymns as they were singing. A burst of song from the lilac
bush under the parlor window drew her eyes thither, and there was the paternal
redbreast pouring out the very soul of ecstasy. From the nest beneath him
rose the black head and yellow beak of his brooding mate. "How contented and
happy she looks!" Alida murmured, "how happy they both are! And the secret of
it is HOME. And to think that I, who was a friendless waif, am at home, also!
At home with Eden-like beauty and peace before my eyes. But if it hadn't been
for him, and if he were not brave, kind, and true to all he says--" and she
shuddered at a contrast that rose before her fancy.

She could now scarcely satisfy herself that it was only gratitude which filled
her heart with a strange, happy tumult. She had never been conscious of such
exaltation before. It is true, she had learned to cherish a strong affection
for the man whom she had believed to be her husband, but chiefly because he
had seemed kind and she had an affectionate disposition. Until within the
last few hours, her nature had never been touched and awakened in its
profoundest depths. She had never known before nor had she idealized the
manhood capable of evoking the feelings which now lighted her eyes and gave to
her face the supreme charm and beauty of womanhood. In truth, it was a
fitting day and time for the birth of a love like hers, simple, all-absorbing,