There she was, the girl he loved. Her voice was ringing in his
ears. In his own joy for one instant he had forgotten the old man beside
him, and the great test that was now upon him. He turned quickly,
however, as the old man got to his feet. For an instant the lost exile of
the North stood as though transfixed. The blood slowly drained from his
face, and in his eyes was an agony of struggle and desire. For a moment
an awful confusion had the mastery, and then suddenly a clear light broke
into his eyes, his face flushed healthily and shone, his arms went up,
and there rang in his ears the words:
"Then I think with bitter pain,
Shall we ever meet again?
When the swallows homeward fly--"
"Alice--Alice!" he called, and tottered forward up the aisle, followed by
John Bickersteth.
"Alice, I have come back!" he cried again.
GEORGE'S WIFE
"She's come, and she can go back. No one asked her, no one wants her, and
she's got no rights here. She thinks she'll come it over me, but she'll
get nothing, and there's no place for her here."
The old, grey-bearded man, gnarled and angular, with overhanging brows
and a harsh face, made this little speech of malice and unfriendliness,
looking out on the snow-covered prairie through the window.
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