A Voice in the Wilderness

essions of the place; then suddenly there loomed a dark speck in the near foreground of her meditation, and, looking down annoyed, she discovered

s wrought up over a foolish little personal dislike. Why did she have to dislike a minister, anyway, and then take to a wild young fellow whose life thus far had been anything but satisfactory even to himself? Was it her perverse nature that caused her to remember the look in the eyes of the Boy who had rescued her from a night in the wilderness, and to feel there was far more manliness in his face than in the face of the man whose profession surely would lead one to suppose he wa

oudoir cap with its rose-colored ribbons over the bleary mirror, threw her kimono of flowered challis over the back of the rocker, arranged her soap and toothbrush, her own wash-rag and a towel brought from home on the wash-stand, and somehow felt better and more as if she belonged. Last she ranged her precious photographs of father and mot

would her dear father think of her feeling this way toward a minister, and before she knew the first thing about him, too? It was dreadful! She must shake it off. Of course he was a good man or he wouldn't be

methyst, and all the path between was many-colored like a pavement of jewels set in filigree. While she looked the pi

made her forget for the moment where she was, and it seemed a desecration to have mere mortals step in

e she half feared it was the minister, until a shy, reluctant backwardness in the whole stoc

untamed voice; and Margaret perceived that the p

but I got to looking at the wonderful sunset. Have you been watching it?" She pointed across the room to the window. "Look! Isn't

ly, across at the window, as if he expected to see some phenomenon. "O

ust in that one tiny spot!" exclaimed Margaret.

aid he, "I c'n show you plenty like that!" But he tu

ward the door. "Is this your dog? Isn't he a beauty? He made me feel really as if he were glad t

eciative look at the new teacher, for the first time genuin

Cap. Is that sho

ap

e waves that tail grandly, almost as if it might be a badge of office. But

ed. "I'm jus

with a very red face and a feeling as if his right arm had been somehow lifted out of the same class with the rest of his body. It was rather awful, too, that it happened just in the open dining-room door, and that "preacher-boarder" watched the whole performance. Bud put on an extra-deep frown a

nticipation of a victim. In spite of her resolves to like the man, Margaret was again struck with aversion as she saw him standing there, and was intensely relieved when she found that the seat a

d he placed a possessive hand on the b

minister could converse with the teacher to the better advantage of the whole table if he sat across from her. Mrs. Tanner was a bor

ir and waited for her to sit down. The situation, however, was somewhat relieved of its intimacy by a sudden interference from C

hair! That doesn'

to the table, and precipitately retired to his own place. "That dog's a nuis

t savagely on the minister, and Cap settled

a little, thin, wiry, weather-beaten man, with skin like leather and sparse hair. Some of his teeth were missing, leaving deep hollows in his cheeks, and his kindly protruding chin was covered with scraggy gray w

e ready fer your part o' the perfo

ceremony. Bud stared contemptuously at him the while, and Cap uttered a low rumble as of a distant growl. Margar

them both, endeavored to set up a separate and altogether private conversation with Margaret across the narrow table; but Margaret innocently had begun a conversation with Bud about the school, and had to be addressed by name each time before Mr. West could get her attention. Bud, with

e was coy, and the acquaintance was to have the zest of being no lightly won friendship. All the better. He watched her as she talked, noted every charm

t endure another half-hour of contact with her present world until she had had some rest. If the world had been just Bud and the dog she could have st

ience of the night before with a vivid memory of her companion. Why, just why couldn't she be as interested in the minister down there as in the wild young man? Well, she was too tired to-night to analyze it all, and she knel

asped behind, his head thrown back raptly. He could not see her in her dark room, but she pulled the shade down softly and fled to

t she fel