Daisy in the Field

would not be I pleased; that itwould not be what you would wish; and I feared mamma, andperhaps you, would forbid him at once."

  "Does he write to you?"

  "I would not let him, papa, without your permission; and I wasafraid I could not get that."

  "What did you expect to do then, Daisy, if I was never to betold?"

  "I thought to wait only till the war should be over, papa, -when he might see you himself and you might see him. I thoughtthat would be the best way."

  "_He_ did not?"

  "No; he insisted on writing."

  "He was right. What is the young man's name, Daisy? you havenot told me yet."

  "Christian Thorold."

  "Thorold," said papa. "It is an English name. Have you heardnothing from him, Daisy, since you came to Switzerland?"

  "Nothing," - I said.

  Papa came over again to where I sat on the divan, bent downand kissed me.

  "Am I such a terror to you, Daisy?"

  "Oh, no, papa," I said, bursting into tears at last; - "butmamma - you know if mamma said a word at first, she wouldnever go back from it."

  "I know," he said. "And I choose, for the present, that thismatter should remain a secret between you and me. You need nottell your mother until I bid you."

  "Yes, papa. Thank you."

  "And, Daisy," said he stroking my hair fondly, - "the war isnot ended in America yet, and I am afraid we have a long timeto wait for it. Poor child! - But for the present there are nostorms ahead."

  I rose up and kissed papa, with a very tender good-night givenand exchanged; and then I went to my room. The Jerusalemlights were out. But a peace, deep and wide as the blue archof the sky, seemed to have spanned my life and my heart.

  CHAPTER XVII.

  OUT OF THE SMOKE

  There was an immense burden lifted off me. It is difficult toexpress the change and the relief in my feelings. The next daywas given to an excursion in the neighbourhood; and I nevercan forget how rare the air seemed to be, as if I werebreathing pure life; and how brilliant the sunlight was thatfell on the wonderful Palestine carpet of spring flowers. Allover they were; under foot and everywhere else; flashing fromhidden places, peeping round corners, smiling at us in everymeadow and hillside; a glory upon the land. Papa was in greatdelight, as well as I; and as kind as possible to me; alsovery good to Mr. Dinwiddie. Mr. Dinwiddie himself seemed to metransformed. I had gone back now to the free feeling of achild; and he looked to me again as my childish eyes had seenhim. There was a great amount of fire and vigour andintellectual life in his countenance; the auburn hair and thebrown eyes glowed together with the hue of a warm temperament;but that was tempered by a sweet and manly character. Ithought he had grown soberer than the Mr. Dinwiddie of myremembrance.

  That particular day lies in my memory like some far-off lakethat one has seen just under the horizon of a wide landscape,- a still bit of silvery light. It is not the distance,though, in this case, that gives it its shining. We were goingthat morning to visit Gibeon and Neby Samwil; and thelandscape was full, for me, of the peace which had come intothe relations between me and papa. It was a delicious springday; the flowers bursting under our feet with their freshsmiles; the air perfumed with herby scents and young sweetnessof nature; while associations of old time clustered all about,like sighs of history. - We went first along the great stonytrack which leads from Jerusalem to the north; then turnedaside into the great route from Jaffa to Jerusalem; not thesouthern and rougher way which re had taken when we came fromthe coast. This was he approach of almost all the armies whichhave poured their fury on the devoted city. We went singlefile, as one has to go in Palestine; and I liked it. There wastoo much to think of to make one want to talk. And thebuoyancy of the air seemed to feed mind as well as body, andgive all the stimulus needed. Mr. Dinwiddie sometimes calledout to me to point my attention to something; and the rest ofthe time I kept company with the past and my own musings.

  We visited Gibeon first, and stood by the dry pool where Abnerand Joab watched the fight of their twelve picked men; and weread Solomon's prayer.

  "This is a wonderful country," said papa, "for the way itsassociations are packed. There is more history here than inany other region of the world."

  "Well, papa, it is the world's history," I said.

  "What do you mean, Daisy?"

  I hesitated; it was not very easy to tell.

  "She is right though," said Mr. Dinwiddie; "it is the verycore of the world's history, round which the other is slowlygathering and maturing, to the perfected fruit. Or to take itanother way, - ever since God at the first did visit theGentiles, to take put of them a people for His name, Hisdealings with that people have been an earnest and an image ofHis course with His Church at large. We may cut down to theheart of the world and find the perfect flower here - as we doin bulbs."

  "A blossoming to destruction then, it seems," said my father.

  "No!" said Mr. Dinwiddie - "to restoration and glory. Thehistory of this land is not yet finished."

  "And you think _that_ is in store for it yet?"

  Mr. Dinwiddie answered, - " 'Thus saith the Lord; If ye canbreak my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night,and that there should not be day and night in their season;then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant,that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; andwith the Levites the priests, my ministers. As the hosts ofheaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the seameasured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, andthe Levites that minister unto me.' "

  "Who spoke that?"

  "The prophet Jeremiah."

  "And when, pray?"

  "When Nebuchadnezzar and his army were just upon the point ofcompleting the destruction of the city - and of the people."

  "Then it refers to their return from captivity, does it not?"

  "As the type of the other restoration," said Mr. Dinwiddie."For 'In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branchof righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall executejudgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shallJudah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this isthe name whereby she shall be called, The Lord ourrighteousness.' Moreover, in Ezekiel's vision of a new templeand city, he gives the dimensions of the temple large enoughto take in all Jerusalem, and the holy city as many timesexceeding its utmost actual limits; and he says, 'The name ofthe city from that day shall be, The Lord is there.' Jehovahshammah. I wish the day were come."

  "You take it as entirely figurative!" said papa. "I thoughtjust now you made it entirely literal."

  "What is a figure?" said Mr. Dinwiddie. "And if you take awaythe literal, where will the spiritual be?"

  "True," said papa. "These are things I have not studied."

  And then we mounted to the height of Neby Samwil and sat downfor a good long look. Mr. Dinwiddie was here as elsewhereinvaluable. He told us everything and pointed out everythingto us, that we ought to see or know. The seacoast plain laybelow; - spread out for many a mile, with here a height andthere a cluster of buildings, and the blue sea washing itswestern border. We could easily see Jaffa, Ramleh and Lydda;we picked those spots out first which we knew. Then Mr.Dinwiddie pointed us to Ashdod, and to Ekron, a little to theleft of Ramleh.

  "And that is where Nebuchadnezzar was with his army, before hewent up to Jerusalem," I said.

  "The first time," said Mr. Dinwiddie. "Yes; there his hosts ofChaldeans lay in the plain; and there after the place wastaken he impaled the chiefs of the town; and then flushed withpower, came up to Jerusalem and cast banks against it. So hesays; and we know that so Isaiah prophesied he would do; andwe know that Hezekiah bought him off."

  "Did he come up this way of the Beth-horons?" I asked.

  "I suppose so. And down this way, Joshua chased the fleeingkings and their followers and overthrew them as they fled downthe pass - what a rush it must have been! - and down there,down where the green sweeps into the hills from the plain,there is Ajalon."

  "Papa, d
o you see?"

  "I see; but I do not understand quite so well as you do,Daisy, what you are talking about."

  "It is Miss Randolph's own country," remarked Mr. Dinwiddie.

  "She is not a Jewess," said papa.

  "Pardon me - we have it on authority that 'he is a Jew whichis one inwardly;' - an Israelite indeed," Mr . Dinwiddiemuttered to himself.

  I saw papa was puzzled and half displeased. I hastened to turnthe conversation, and showed him where Bethel lay and themountains of Ephraim; and finally ordered our luncheon basketto be brought forward. But we had to leave our position andchoose a shaded place, the sun