sound.  Out beyond, under the calm sky, veiled with a mist rather than with a cloud, rose the high, dark outlines of the mountains, shutting in that village as if it lay in a nest.  They stood, like giants, solemnly watching for the end of Earth and Time.  Here and there a black round shadow reminded Ruth of some “Cwm,” or hollow, where she and her lover had rambled in sun and in gladness.  She then thought the land enchanted into everlasting brightness and happiness; she fancied, then, that into a region so lovely no bale or woe could enter, but would be charmed away and disappear before the sight of the glorious guardian mountains.  Now she knew the truth, that earth has no barrier which avails against agony.  It comes lightning-like down from heaven, into the mountain house and the town garret; into the palace and into the cottage.  The garden lay close under the house; a bright spot enough by day; for in that soil, whatever was planted grew and blossomed in spite of neglect.  The white roses glimmered out in the dusk all the night through; the red were lost in shadow.  Between the low boundary of the garden and the hills swept one or two green meadows; Ruth looked into the grey darkness till she traced each separate wave of outline.  Then she heard a little restless bird chirp out its wakefulness from a nest in the ivy round the walls of the house.  But the mother-bird spread her soft feathers, and hushed it into silence.  Presently, however, many little birds began to scent the coming dawn, and rustled among the leaves, and chirruped loud and clear.  Just above the horizon, too, the mist became a silvery grey cloud hanging on the edge of the world; presently it turned shimmering white; and then, in an instant, it flushed into rose, and the mountain-tops sprang into heaven, and bathed in the presence of the shadow of God.  With a bound, the sun of a molten fiery red came above the horizon, and immediately thousands of little birds sang out for joy, and a soft chorus of mysterious, glad murmurs came forth from the earth; the low whispering wind left its hiding-place among the clefts and hollows of the hills, and wandered among the rustling herbs and trees, waking the flower-buds to the life of another day.  Ruth gave a sigh of relief that the night was over and gone; for she knew that soon suspense would be ended, and the verdict known, whether for life or for death.  She grew faint and sick with anxiety; it almost seemed as if she must go into the room and learn the truth.  Then she heard movements, but they were not sharp nor rapid, as if prompted by any emergency; then, again, it was still.  She sat curled up upon the floor, with her head thrown back against the wall, and her hands clasped round her knees.  She had yet to wait.  Meanwhile, the invalid was slowly rousing himself from a long, deep, sound, health-giving sleep.  His mother had sat by him the night through, and was now daring to change her position for the first time; she was even venturing to give directions