"You know best, Aunt Mary. Certainly this pie would hide a multitude of wrinkles and even gray hair. But now, Aunt Mary, can't you persuade my wife to leave the kitchen long enough to come take a little walk with me?"
"Go long with him, chile. I reckon I can keep the bungleboo from flyin' off while you an' yo' teacher takes a little ex'cise."
So Molly took off her cap and apron and, donning a shade hat, stepped joyfully out in the sunshine with her husband. They followed the little brook at the foot of the orchard, and climbing the fence, found themselves once more in the beechwoods. Both of them remembered the walk they had taken there together more than two years before, and with one accord they directed their footsteps to the great tree, the father of the forest, where they had sat on that memorable walk.
"'Of all the beautiful pictures
That hang on Memory's wall,
Is one of a dim, old forest
That seemeth the best of all.'
"Do you remember, Dearest, how you quoted that poem to me when we walked here before?" asked Edwin, drawing Molly to him.
"Yes, I remember quite well," said Molly. "I also remember what you said, but I am afraid it will make you conceited if I tell you. It is a long time to remember something that is not poetry."
"Please tell me. If I ever said anything that was worth remembering that long, you should encourage me by telling it to me."
"You said: 'A beautiful picture comes to my inward eye, and that is an old Molly with white hair sitting where you are now, still in the romantic era, still in the beechwoods; and God willing, I'll be beside you.' I have thought of those words very often, and when I wasn't certain that you really cared for me, I would say to myself that you must have cared then." And Molly blushed.
"Cared for you! I can't see how I ever kept from telling you that day. It is best as it is. You were too young, but sometimes even now when I know you are mine, I tremble to think that I might have lost you by waiting."
"There was never any real danger of that. If you had not cared, I was determined to be an old maid." And Molly gave a sigh of happiness as she nestled close to her "teacher."