The time had been, and a very few days before, when the child could not have restrained her tears and must have wept with him.

But now she soothed him with gentle and tender words, smiled at his thinking they could ever part, and rallied him cheerfully upon the jest.

He was soon calmed and fell asleep, singing to himself in a low voice, like a little child.
He awoke refreshed, and they continued their journey.

The road was pleasant, lying between beautiful pastures and fields of corn, about which, poised high in the clear blue sky, the lark trilled out her happy song.

The air came laden with the fragrance it caught upon its way, and the bees, upborne upon its scented breath, hummed forth their drowsy satisfaction as they floated by.
They were now in the open country; the houses were very few and scattered at long intervals, often miles apart.