Quiet as was his demeanour, the emotional side of his nature had evidently been deeply wrought upon to-day, for when he tried to speak to reprove her, grief choked his utterance.

It was not at that time a strange thing for men under the influence of religious convictions to weep easily.

On the contrary, it was accounted by evangelists a sign of great grace; but Susannah, accustomed only to the reserve of English gentlemen and her uncle's stern Puritan self-repression, seeing this young Quaker weep for her sake, was greatly touched.

She became possessed by an excited desire to console him.
The young man turned, weeping as he went, into a little wood that here bordered the road.

Susannah followed, full of ruth, thinking that he merely sought temporary shade.
They had proceeded under the trees a few paces when Emma Smith came up from the bank of the river to meet them.