I have never known my father to turn from his word." * * * * * From far away in the wild woods came a cry as the two stood there.

It might be a wolf or fox, if any were there, or some strange night-bird, or a woman in pain.

It rose, it seemed, to a scream, melancholy and dreadful, and then died again.

The two heard it, but said nothing, one to the other.

No doubt it was some beast in a snare or a-hunting, but it chimed in with the desolation of their hearts so as to seem but a part of it.