No, no," Christen spoke in a hushed, awed voice.

Elisa knew that they were speaking of her, but she also knew that they could not see her. A fear came lest they might prevent the purpose she had so quickly formed. She crept stealthily along the strip of ground between the outhouses and the lake, and then her face blanched, and with tottering knees she leaned against the broken timbers and tried to steady her thoughts.

Long ago she had learned to ask God for help-but now, when she tried to pray, her words froze on her lips.

It had come, then-the fate she so dreaded for her boy; he lay buried under the snow.

She had gone through all this already in thought. Oh, yes, she knew what she had to do. It never occurred to her to bemoan herself or to break down in tears. She sped back to her house, and wrapped herself more warmly; then she put some milk and some brandy into a basket with a warm wrap over them, and then she left the chalet and walked on swiftly in the opposite direction from the point. Half a mile of rapid walking brought her to just such another little creek as that at the foot of the grassgrown steps; but here, instead of the broken sheds, there was a bathing hut with two boats moored beside it. The sun had almost reached the mountain tops, and the gray of the lake was mottled with exquisite reflections of the rosy sky. Elisa bent over one of the boats and tried to launch it. At first this was beyond her strength; but at last it yielded, and she was afloat. The oars were large and very heavy, and her hands were numbed with the intense cold. She was some time in crossing the lake.

The man opened his mouth and stared in wonder. He was one of the head farmers of the district; his dignity was affronted. By what right did this wildeyed stranger snatch at his arm and question him so fiercely? He had never seen her! But Elisa could not wait while he arranged his ideas. She placed herself in front of a woman who stood near.

What has happened on the mountain?" she asked;" is it known?"

The woman was an eager talker; her broad face and black slit-like 'eyes kindled.

"Yes, yes, it is known. There has been a snowfall-some say a slip of part of the rock on this side, and the chalets up yonder at Oberstalden are buried, and no one knows where the sheep will have strayed to. Do you not hear the cow-bells? They are already bringing down the cows by hundreds. What a winter we shall have.'

"

All this fell on Elisa's strained hearing as rain falls on a window-pane-she heard it, but it did not penetrate to her feelings.

She had learned the truth of what she dreaded. There was only one question still to be asked; but as she looked at her eager-tongued neighbor she felt that she would not get an answer from her.

Farther on, nearer the chateau, which stands beyond the houses, she saw the diligence; it was ready to start, but its rough-looking driver had not yet mounted to his seat. He was stamping his boots heavily as if his feet were cold, cracking his whip now and then.

Elisa knew that this man travelled each day some way up the mountain. He must surely know the truth about what had happened, and she hurried toward him.

He left off cracking his whip: her

At your service, neighbor," he said. What do you want of me?''

ous ringing she had quieted her temper. In a few minutes a man appeared. He said, in answer to her eager request, that Monsieur le Comte could not see

No, but I have heard." He was full of sympathy, for in his youth he, too, had herded cattle on the mountain side. "The Unterstalden chalets are safe, my good woman; the lads only stay to collect the strayed sheep-"

He broke off; the agonized look in her eyes held him fascinated. It was plain that his words had no comfort for her. He was afraid to end his tidings. "" Go on, she said in a voice that sounded far off. "Is it true that the Oberstalden chalets are under the snow?"

about to take him from home, and he could not spare a moment before he went. "Will he come out this way?'

"Yes.'

She stood waiting: she felt as if she were wasting precious moments, and yet, how little she could do alone. Presently she heard wheels grating on the slaty drive, and then Monsieur von Erlach came out ready to step into the carriage which had drawn up in front of the door. He looked round and saw Elisa.

What do you want with me, my good woman?" and as he met her eyes he seemed to know her errand.

Sir, are you going up the moun

tain ?"

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As soon as I can. I must first drive to Dort to get some help; there are soldiers there who can be spared, our people are so busy with the herds."

Elisa flushed and her eyes brightened. "But sir, the boys are perishing in the

snow.

She spoke roughly, almost fiercely the Count thought. "Two men

66

Yes, yes," he said. have gone up already.

Two men! Listen, sir. One of those boys is my boy, André: the other is an orphan. He has no mother, only you, sir, to care for him. Will you lose so many precious hours before you go to see what can be done on the mountain ? I am going there; but, sir, I am weak and ignorant, the men above will not listen to me. Only such as you, sir, can order what is best to do in such a strait. You will go there; you will come with me now.

She spoke with a fire and energy that would have greatly surprised Christen the carpenter, and her eyes told her that she had kindled the zeal of her listener.

He was indeed greatly moved. "I will go with you, " he said.

He went into the house and came back with a note, which he gave to his gray-headed servant.

You will bid Louis saddle a horse

and carry this as fast as he can to Dort. Now my good friend," he said to Elisa, I will drive you as far as we can go and we will climb together to the chalets.'

IV.

The two men had been digging for an hour, yet it seemed as if they had made no impression on the enormous mass of snow at which they labored.

When it became known that the Count had gone up to the chalets some lads who had come down with the cattle followed him, and there were soon almost a dozen at work with picks and shovels, but the snow was so hard and deep that it seemed as if they might go on for hours. They had pushed André's mother aside when she asked to help them, but Monsieur von Erlach took a spade and worked with a will.

Now and then Elisa walked up and down below them, but the chalets had stood on the exposed side of the mountain, and the snowfall, after overwhelming them, had drifted down on one side, so that only a small space of path was left thinly covered. Lately she had stood still muffled in her shawl watching the diggers.

All at once she moved to the left where the snow lay thickly heaped, and when Monsieur von Erlach looked up she had passed out of sight. He thought she had gone down to the lower chalets, to which he had already sent a lad to make all ready to receive those they hoped to rescue. The sun was gaining power over the snow on this side, and as Elisa plunged resolutely into it she sank to her knees. She tried to go on but this seemed impossible. She felt rooted in the snow. At last, with much effort and long pauses between each step, she struggled forward. As she advanced her footing became firmer, for she had circled round the vast mound, and on this side the snow had not melted. She had quite lost sight of the diggers, and crouching down she listened. Then a wailing cry sounded over the snow

"André, André, I am here."

The terrible cry startled the diggers; they looked round them in alarm, the Count with some help climbed up to the top of the mound.

SO

And as he followed the direction of her finger he saw that she was right. The place where they stood was altered in aspect that no one would have recognized it. The winding path which had curved outside the flank of the mountain had disappeared with the chalets of the herdsmen ; a new projecting spur in the shape of an enormous snow-hill had taken their place, barring all upward progress, and on one side it spread downward, but above, except that it was white with snow, the mountain was unchanged.

You must come with me,' the Count said, imperatively. I will bring the men here, but you must come away -come, do you hear me?'

She was stooping down. Now she cried out again, in a wail that sounded strangely sad

"André-André, I am here." While she bent down listening for an answer, she was firmly drawn away, carried off her feet, and set down again, where the snow lay only a few inches deep on the ground.

Then as the Count told his news to the men, there rose a hearty shout; they were soon digging rapidly on the spot where Elisa had crouched.

She stood waiting; she had done what she could, but it seemed terrible that while her darling lay, p rhaps dying, she could do nothing. Since that day, when she had fallen insensible at the foot of the snow mountain, where her husband had perished, she had rarely shed tears; something had congealed them. Now she could only stand praying that her boy might yet live-her loving André. No one but she knew how good and tender, how self-denying he had been.

Clouds had risen, and now they reached the sun and obscured his light, and an icy wind swept round Elisa, but she did not even shiver; she could only think of her boy.

The digging went on silently; it seemed to her the men were digging a grave. How far off it was since her boy had come down to her, and she had seen his hopes, and how he strove against them for fear of grieving her.

Oh, how good and loving her André had ever been to her. He had never wilfully given her an hour of sorrow, and she-what had she done? Because she had yielded to her fear, she had given him a constant secret grief, she had checked the flow of his confidence in her, and she had taught him that his mother exacted the sacrifice of his dearest wish, while in words she lived only for his happiness.

And now perhaps the end had come. She could not be sure that the cry she had heard was André's and presently the men might bring out from under the snow. The thought shaped itself with terrible reality; the hard pain at her heart tightened, and then a burst of tears came. How blind she had been, she was able to see it now. What was the use of faith and trust, if she did not think his Father in heaven could better care for André than she could. She stood silent after this;

she gave up even her longing to help; she tried to accept that she must yield up her own will, and when the Count called out to her to move about or go down to the chalets, or she would get frozen by the wind, she began to hurry backward and forward along the narrow ledge on which she stood.

Time was slipping by quickly, yet it seemed to her slow-footed. The snow had made all below look monotonous, but as Elisa turned she saw on the white expanse dark objects in movement. Soon she made them out to be a body of men climbing up the road by which she had come.

"Monsieur, Monsieur le Comte," she cried loudly, there is help coming to you.

It was, in truth, the party of soldiers for whose help Monsieur von Erlach had sent to ask, and behind them came Hans Christen. He had evidently been schooling them as to the manner in which they were to proceed; but when Monsieur von Erlach came forward, Hans stopped short..

"I am glad to see you, Christen," the Count said. 'You must take care of this poor woman, she is cold and weary with watching."

Her old friend had not seen her. Now he pulled off his spectacles, and blew his nose; then he frowned at her severely.

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You have given us all a nice fright, Elisa Engemann," he said, sternly. Who would have thought a woman arrived at your years would run away from home? You made me feel like a fool when I found your cottage empty." A wan smile came over her face. "I could not help it, neighbor, I was wanted here," she said quietly, and then she turned back to the snow.

Christen caught her by the shoulder.

"You must come away with me," he said. "Did you not hear the Count say so just now? What will you be fit for by the time André is found?"

Her eyes brimmed over at his words. God bless you, old friend," she sobbed. "I will go with you by and by.' Christen turned away his head; secretly he was as unwilling to leave the place as she was. He tried to get round behind the diggers; but he