"I remember the picture. Is there not a crown shining in the sunlight
over the mountain-top, and the outline of a great cross in the dark
shadow over the steep path which leads up to the summit?"

"I believe so; but it was the figure of the youth that attracted me.
His face expressed aspiration, that bright confidence in the future
which Aunt Faith and I have been discussing this morning."

"So you were in her room all that time, were you?"

"Yes; and that reminds me that I must do a little reading. I am
growing shamefully lazy. Good-bye, Queen Bessie. Be sure and make my
picture as handsome as you can."

"I shall do my best;"--"but I cannot hope to make it as handsome as
the original," she added, after the door closed.

Twilight came and the two cousins were riding in a country lane
several miles from the old stone house; they had left the turnpike
where they usually rode, and, instead of going at headlong speed, the
horses were walking slowly over the grassy path as if the summer
evening had influenced their riders with its peaceful quiet.

"I have never been here before," said Bessie; "where does that path
lead?"

"To Rocky brook where we used to go a fishing."

"Let us go that way, please. I have not been to Rocky brook for years
and years." So the horses were turned, and, after a pleasant ride