Just at sunset, he crossed the bridge over the brook which formed the boundary line of the farm, and as he did so heard a light footstep.  Lifting his eyes, he saw Pepeeta, who at that very instant stepped out of the low bushes which lined the trail she had been following.

Her appearance was as sudden as an apparition and her beauty dazzled him.  Her face, flushed with exercise, gleamed against the background of her black hair with a sort of spiritual radiance.  When she saw the Quaker, a smile of unmistakable delight flashed upon her features and added to her bewitching grace.  She might have been an Oread or a Dryad wandering alone through the great forest.  What bliss for youth and beauty to meet thus at the close of day amid the solitudes of Nature!

Had Nature forgotten herself, to permit these two young and impressionable beings to enjoy this pleasure on a lonely road just as the day was dying and the tense energies of the world were relaxed?  There are times when her indifference to her own most inviolable laws seems anarchic.  There are moments when she appears wantonly to lure her children to destruction.

They gazed into each other’s eyes, they knew not how long, with an incomprehensible and delicious joy, and then looked down upon the ground.  Having regained their composure by this act, they lifted their eyes and regarded each other with frank and friendly smiles.

“I thought thee had gone,” said David.

“We stayed longer than we expected,” Pepeeta replied.

“Has thee been hunting wild flowers?” he asked, observing the bouquet which she held in her hand.

“I picked them on the way.”

“Has thee been walking far?”

“I have not thought.”

“It is easy to walk in these spring days.”

“I must have found it so, for I have been out since sunrise, and am not tired.”

“Thee does love the woods?”

“Oh, so much!  I am a sort of wild creature and should like to live in a cave.”

“I am afraid thee would always turn thy face homeward at dusk, as thee is doing now,” he said with a smile.

“Oh, no!  I am not afraid!  I go because I must.”

“I will join thee, if I may.  The same path will take us toward our different destinations.”

“Oh, I shall be glad, for I want to ask you many questions.  I can think of nothing else but what I heard you say in the meeting house.”

“I fear I have said some things which I do not understand myself,” he replied, with a flush, remembering the experience through which he had just passed.

The path was wide enough for two, and side by side they moved slowly forward.

The somber garb in which he was dressed, and the brilliant colors of her apparel, afforded a contrast like that between a pheasant and a scarlet tanager.  Color, form, motion—­all were perfect.  They fitted into the scene without a jar or discord, and enhanced rather than disturbed the harmony of the drowsy landscape.