Kate laid her hand on the General's arm beneath an ancient beech, and they stood in silence to receive the blessing of the place, for surely never is the soul so open to the voice of nature as by the side of running water and in the heart of a wood.

The fretted sunlight made shifting figures of brightness on the ground; above the innumerable leaves rustled and whispered; a squirrel darted along a branch and watched the intruders with bright, curious eyes; the rooks cawed from the distance; the pigeons cooed in sweet, sad cadence close at hand.

They sat down on the bare roots at their feet and yielded themselves to the genius of the forest--the god who will receive the heart torn and distracted by the fierce haste and unfinished labours and vain ambitions of life, and will lay its fever to rest and encompass it with the quietness of eternity.
"Father," whispered Kate, after a while, as one wishing to share confidences, for there must be something to tell, "where are you ?" "You wish to know?
Well, all day I 've been fishing down the stream, and am coming home, very tired, very dirty, very happy, and I meet my mother just outside those trees.

I am boasting of the fish that I have caught, none of which, I 'm sure, can be less than half a pound.

She is rating me for my appearance and beseeching me to keep at a distance.
Then I go home and down into the vaulted kitchen, where Janet's mother gives me joyous welcome, and produces dainties saved from dinner for my eating.