It had been growing gray and cloudy, like the first evening of autumn, and a shadow had fallen on the darkening shore. Suddenly, as we looked, a gleam of golden sunshine struck the outer islands, and one of them shone out clear in the light, and revealed itself in a compelling way to our eyes. Mrs. Todd was looking off across the bay with a face full of affection and interest. The sunburst upon that outermost island made it seem like a sudden revelation of the world beyond this which some believe to be so near. “That’s where mother lives,” said Mrs. Todd. “Can’t we see it plain? I was brought up out there on Green Island. I know every rock an’ bush on it.” “Your mother!” I exclaimed, with great interest. “Yes, dear, cert’in; I’ve got her yet, old’s I be. She’s one of them spry, light-footed little women; always was, an’ lighthearted, too,” answered Mrs. Todd, with satisfaction. “She’s seen all the trouble folks can see, without it’s her last sickness; an’ she’s got a word of courage for everybody. Life ain’t spoilt her a mite. She’s eighty-six an’ I’m sixty-seven, and I’ve seen the time I’ve felt a good sight the oldest. ‘Land sakes alive!’ says she, last time I was out to see her. ‘How you do lurch about steppin’ into a bo’t!’ I laughed so I liked to have gone right over into the water; an’ we pushed off, an’ left her laughin’ there on the shore.” The light had faded as we watched. Mrs. Todd had mounted a gray rock, and stood there grand and architectural, like a _caryatide_. Presently she stepped down, and we continued our way homeward. “You an’ me, we’ll take a bo’t an’ go out some day and see mother,” she promised me. “’Twould please her very much, an’ there’s one or two sca’ce herbs grows better on the island than anywheres else. I ain’t seen their like nowheres here on the main. “Now I’m goin’ right down to get us each a mug o’ my beer,” she announced as we entered the house, “an’ I believe I’ll sneak in a little mite o’ camomile. Goin’ to the funeral an’ all, I feel to have had a very wearin’ afternoon.” I heard her going down into the cool little cellar, and then there was considerable delay. When she returned, mug in hand, I noticed the taste of camomile, in spite of my protest; but its flavor was disguised by some other herb that I did not know, and she stood over me until I drank it all and said that I liked it. “I don’t give that to everybody,” said Mrs. Todd kindly; and I felt for a moment as if it were part of a spell and incantation, and as if my enchantress would now begin to look like the cobweb shapes of the arctic town. Nothing happened but a quiet evening and some delightful plans that we made about going to Green Island, and on the morrow there was the clear sunshine and blue sky of another day. VIII. GREEN ISLAND.