Her father was sitting on a bench by the hut door, drowsily comfortable with a cigar, and busy with numberless plans for the future.

He was not in a mood for talking just then, and Mary was glad to be alone for a while.
It was broad daylight still, although the evening was getting on; but the trees grew so thickly all about the hut that she could see little beyond trunks and foliage, so, finding a little path which led upward, she commenced to climb.

Great boulders strewed the ground here between the trees, and although by the sound she knew herself to be near the river, she could not see it until after a stiff climb of twenty minutes or so she emerged on an open space above the falls.

Here indeed was beauty enough to satisfy even her desire for it.

The undulating ground all about and below her was mostly forest-clad, the larches showed in their vivid green against the sombre hue of the pines, while giant cedars stood out black against the evening sky.