It is God who has ordered it so." She would have laughed if she had been less simple-hearted than she was, at the anxious care with which the boy arranged the boat for his mother.
No cushions were soft enough and no shawls warm enough for the precious guest.

When at length all was ready, and he fetched her himself from the house, it was not until she was comfortably seated in the low seat, with a well-padded sloping back, against which she could recline at ease, and with a soft, warm shawl wrapped round her--not till then did the slight cloud of care pass away from his face, and the little pucker of anxiety which knitted his brows grow smooth.

The little girl of five, Hilda, nestled down by her mother, and Felix took his post at the helm.
In unbroken silence they pushed off into the middle of the stream, the boat rowed easily by Phebe's strong young arms.

So silent were they all that they could hear the rustling of the young leaves on the trees, under whose shadows they passed, and the joyous singing of the larks in the meadows on each side of the sunny reaches of water, down which they floated.

It was not until they landed the children on the osier island, and bade them run about to play, and not then until they were some distance away, that their merry young voices were heard.
"Phebe," said Felicita, in her low-toned, softly-modulated voice, always languid and deliberate, "talk to me.