How had he kept that promise made when Betty was a little thing bouncing on his knee?
It seemed only yesterday.

How swift the flight of time! Already Betty was a woman; her sweet, gay girlhood had passed; already a shadow had fallen on her face, the shadow of a secret sorrow.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * March with its blustering winds had departed, and now April's showers and sunshine were gladdening the hearts of the settlers.
Patches of green freshened the slopes of the hills; the lilac bushes showed tiny leaves, and the maple-buds were bursting.

Yesterday a blue-bird--surest harbinger of spring--had alighted on the fence-post and had sung his plaintive song.

A few more days and the blossoms were out mingling their pink and white with the green; the red-bud, the hawthorne, and the dog-wood were in bloom, checkering the hillsides.
"Bessie, spring is here," said Col.

Zane, as he stood in the doorway.