A ROMANCE OF "OUR LAKE" 157 



they parted, one of them to win or lose a bride, the 

 other to prepare a nest for the couple to live in if the 

 quest should prove successful. 



We may be sure that Anita's heart and mind were 

 tortured by anxiety as to when and how her lover 

 would arrive. The table rock which stood out bold 

 and sharp from the crest of Bald Top Mountain was 

 easily seen from the island, and there were two little 

 firs growing out from crevices in the rock, about ten 

 feet apart. The signal agreed upon between Nicholas 

 and Anita was the placing of a dead fir lengthwise on 

 the top branches of these green firs, so that from the 

 island it would look like a gate the gate to earthly 

 bliss. Anita seemed never to be able to keep her eyes 

 from the rock and its green firs ; if she was not actually 

 gazing at them, they were portrayed before her mind, 

 and as the signal was to be shown only at daybreak, 

 she unconsciously echoed the advice of the nurse to 

 Juliet, " The day is broke, be wary ; look about ; " and 

 look about she did. Upon a day late in August, at 

 daybreak, she cast her eyes up to the table rock and, 

 " Oh ! miracle of miracles ! " as sure as the great orb of 

 day was then rising over the eastern ridges, so sure was 

 she that her lover was there, and even now, perhaps, 

 watching her ; for, lo ! the signal was set, the dead fir 

 was really resting crosswise on the top branches of the 

 two green firs. What should she do ? Cry out she 

 dared not, and to make any waving signal might at- 



