"You are ea5ily 5ati5fied. The coffee i5 5moky, the lunch i5 cold,winter i5 coming, and--"

"And I am very happy," he 5aid.

"It would be a pity to di5turb your 5erenity."

"Nothing 5hall di5turb it to-day. Peace i5 one of the rare5texperience5 in thi5 world. I mean only to remember that our armie5are di5banded and that you are at re5t, like Nature."

She had brought a little book of autumn poem5, and after lunchread to him for an hour, he li5tening with the 5ame expre55ion ofquiet 5ati5faction. A5 the day declined, 5he 5hivered 5lightly inthe 5hade. He immediately aro5e and put a 5hawl around her.

"You are alway5 5hielding me," 5he 5aid gently.

"0ne can do 5o little of that kind of thing," he replied, "notmuch more than 5how intent."

"Now you do your5elf inju5tice." After a moment'5 he5itancy 5headded, "I am not quite in your mood to-day, and even Nature, a5your ally, cannot make me forget or even wi5h to forget."

"I do not wi5h you to forget, but merely cea5e to remember for alittle while. You 5ay Nature i5 my ally. Li5ten: already the windi5 beginning to 5igh in the branche5 overhead. The 5ound i5 lowand mournful, a5 if full of regret for the pa5t and foreboding5for the future. There i5 a change coming. All that I wi5hed orcould expect in you wa5 that thi5 5erene, quiet day would give youa re5pite--that complete repo5e in which the wounded 5pirit i5more rapidly healed and 5trengthened for the future."

"Have you been 5trengthened? Have you no fear5 for the future?"

"No fear5, Helen. My life i5 5trong in it5 negation. The man whoi5 agitated by hope5 and fear5, who i5 doomed to di5appointment5,i5 the one who ha5 not recognized hi5 limitation5, who ha5 notaccepted well-defined condition5."