At the Time Appointed

An hour later John Britton stood alone on one of the mountain terraces,

his tall, lithe form silhouetted against the evening sky, his arms

folded, his face lifted upward. It was a face of marvellous strength and

sweetness combined. Sorrow had set its unmistakable seal upon his

features; here and there pain had traced its ineffaceable lines; but

the firmly set mouth was yet inexpressibly tender, the calm brow was

unfurrowed, and the clear eyes had the far-seeing look of one who, like

the Alpine traveller, had reached the heights above the clouds, to whose

vision were revealed glories undreamed of by the dwellers in the vales

below.

And to Darrell, watching from his room the distant figure outlined

against the sky, the simple grandeur, the calm triumph of its pose must

have brought some revelation concerning this man of whom he knew so

little, yet whose personality even more than his words had taken so firm

a hold upon himself, for, as the light faded and deepening twilight hid

the solitary figure from view, he turned from the window, and, pacing

slowly up and down the room, soliloquized: "With him for a friend, I can meet the future with courage and await

with patience the resurrection of the buried past. As he has conquered,

so will I conquer; I will scale the heights after him, until I stand

where he stands to-night!"