They directed their steps as usual to the Raven Rock, which commanded so splendid a view to the west, was so airy, and so sunny a spot that they liked to sit there and talk. It was not often that Barbara had the leisure for such a ramble; on Sundays she made a point of it. As the two girls emerged from the wood, and came out on the platform of rock, they were surprised to see Jasper seated there with a book on his knee. He rose at once on hearing their voices and seeing them. If he had wished to escape, escape was impossible, for the rock descends on all sides sheer to great depths, except where the path leads to it. ‘Do not let us disturb you,’ said Barbara; ‘we will withdraw if we interrupt your studies.’ ‘What is the book?’ asked Eve. ‘If it be poetry, read us something from it.’ He hesitated a moment, then with a smile said, ‘It contains the noblest poetry—it is my Bible.’ ‘The Bible!’ exclaimed Barbara. She was pleased. He certainly was sincere in his repentance. He would not have gone away to a private spot to read the sacred volume unless he were in earnest. ‘Let us sit down, Barbie!’ said Eve. ‘Don’t run away, Mr. Jasper.’ ‘As Mr. Jasper was reading, and you asked him to give you something from the book, I will join in the request.’ ‘I thought it was perhaps—Byron,’ said Eve. ‘As it is not Byron, but something better, we shall be all the better satisfied to have it read to us,’ said Barbara. ‘Well, then, some of the story part, please,’ asked Eve, screwing up her mouth, ‘and not much of it.’ ‘I should prefer a Psalm,’ said Barbara; ‘or a chapter from one of the Epistles.’ ‘I do not know what to read,’ Jasper said smiling, ‘as each of you asks for something different.’ ‘I have an idea,’ exclaimed Eve. ‘He shall hold the book shut. I will close my eyes and open the volume at hap-hazard, and point with my finger. He shall read that, and we can conjure from it, or guess our characters, or read our fate. Then you shall do the same. Will that please you?’ ‘I do not know about guessing characters and reading our fate; our characters we know by introspection, and the future is hidden from our eyes by the same Hand that sent the book. But if you wish Mr. Jasper to be guided by this method what to read, I do not object.’ ‘Very well,’ said Eve, in glee; ‘that will be fun! You will promise, Barbie, to shut your eyes when you open and put your finger on a page? And, Mr. Jasper, you promise to read exactly what my sister and I select?’ ‘Yes,’ answered both to whom she appealed. ‘But mind this,’ pursued the lively girl; ‘you must stop as soon as I am tired.’ Then first, eager in all she did that promised entertainment or diversion, she took the Bible from Mr. Babb’s hands, and closed her eyes; a pretty smile played about her flexible lips as she sat groping with her finger among the pages. Then she opened the book and her blue orbs together.