"He has been seeking me!" she cried, and some glimmering apprehension of the great love of the Father which seeks the fellowship of sincere and simple children, made her bosom heave and her eyes fill with tears, "He loves me," she repeated as before, and her heart nestled itself in the great truth like a bird that has found its nest.
Presently she looked again from her window and saw Hubert walking in the garden.
"Dear Hubert!" she said to herself. "I wish he knew."
With an impulse she laid her book hastily down and ran down the stairs and into the garden. She flew noiselessly across the soft grass and surprised Hubert from behind, clasping his arm with a cheerful "Good morning!"
He looked down on her glowing face and kissed it.
"How bright you look," he said. "Were you up with the birds? I heard you singing your matins with them."
"Did you hear me?" said Winifred, with a blush at being overheard.
"Yes. What makes you so happy, Winnie?"
"Oh, Hubert," she cried, and she clasped his arm more tightly, "My heart is almost breaking with joy! I think I have begun—to know God!"
He looked at her with a surprised hunger in his dark eyes.