After lessons came supper, and then the evening with its long talks.

These were generally about the beautiful country, to which Nora hoped soon to go, and where Elsli followed her in sympathetic thought.

One regret began to dim Nora's satisfaction at the prospect; the thought that they couldn't go together; and Elsli would say, sadly, "If you should go and leave me here alone, how could I bear it ?" At last September came, with its cool but sunny days.

One evening, as the children sat at the window looking across the meadows towards the setting sun; from a dark cloud that hung in the western sky, a great flood of shining light suddenly poured down across the valley, illuminating the trees, the grass, and the shrubs with its dazzling radiance.
"Look! look!" cried Nora, "that is the crystal stream! there it comes rolling toward me! Oh, I wish I could go there now! It is certainly the promised land, where we all shall be so happy.

Come nearer to me, Elsli.