"Oh, this dear creek," cried the delighted Catharine, "how pretty it is! I
shall often follow its course after this; no doubt it has its source from
our own Cold Springs."
And so they cheerfully pursued their way, till the sun, sinking behind
the range of westerly hills, soon left them in gloom; but they anxiously
hurried forward when the stream wound its noisy way among steep stony
banks, clothed scantily with pines and a few scattered silver-barked
poplars. And now they became bewildered by two paths leading in opposite
directions; one upward among the rocky hills, the other through the opening
gorge of a deep ravine.
Here, overcome with fatigue, Catharine seated herself on a large block of
granite, near a great bushy pine that grew beside the path by the ravine,
unable to proceed, and Hector, with a grave and troubled countenance,
stood beside her, looking round with an air of great perplexity. Louis,
seating himself at Catharine's feet, surveyed the deep gloomy valley before
them, and sighed heavily. The conviction had now forcibly struck him that
they had mistaken the path altogether.
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