COMMUTER'S WIFE 23 



a thoroughly New England home, but Evan asked 

 so little and I so much. Then as I looked up, an 

 idea seized me ; I would carry a talisman from the 

 Old world to the New, and I said, " You may trans- 

 plant Martha Corkle (strictly at your own risk, be 

 it said) if you will also take the sundial." So we 

 four are here! 



Bluff sprang up sniffing and growled, but only for 

 a minute. Evan was coming down the path peering 

 among the bushes to find me. For a moment we 

 stood silently arm in arm under the Mother Tree, 

 then we heard the rapid trotting of a horse coming 

 down the hill and in at the gate. Before I could 

 shake off the spell of the past two years and realize 

 that I was myself, father came swiftly across the 

 orchard, calling, " Barbara ! my child, where are 

 you ? " and gathered me up in his arms. 



He had not shed a tear when I went away, but 

 now they rained upon my face, mingled with the 

 late falling leaves of the Mother Tree, while all 

 the pent-up love of those two years was in that one 

 word, Barbara! 



Mother love is invariably held sacred, as it should 

 be, but why has father love never had its due ? It 



