The first week of the adventure was one almost of
happiness. The hazards of the journey were nearly forgotten in its
anticipated results, and though occasional apprehensions quickened the
pulses of one whose system answered so fearfully to the movements of the
spirit, there was a predominance of hope in all her anticipations. She
again passed among her maidens with a mien in which joy was struggling
with the meekness of subdued habits, and her smiles once more began to
beam with renovated happiness. To his dying day, old Mark Heathcote never
forgot the sudden sensation that was created by the soft laugh that on
some unexpected occasion came to his ear from the lips of his son's wife.
Though years had elapsed between the moment when that unwonted sound was
heard, and the time at which the action of the tale now stands, he had
never heard it repeated. To heighten the feelings which were now
uppermost in the mind of Ruth, when within a day's march of the village
to which he was going, Content had found means to send the tidings of his
prospects of success.
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