Next afternoon, Bertha was off to the glades an hour before the usual time, and climbing at once to the top of the hill, was delighted to find that the bush had put forth fresh blossoms on every twig she had stripped the evening before, and evidently to no other end than to be stripped again for Sprigg's especial benefit. So it seemed to little Bertha; so it seems to us. The folks at home had hardly taken the second thought that she had gone for the cows, when here was Bertha back again, her cheeks as brightly red from her loving haste as the flowers she was strewing broadcast over and around her unconscious patient. Yes, and there it came again--that smile, less faint and sweeter still--and when it had passed away more slowly than before, more perceptible still was the life-like cast it left upon the countenance. Every evening, for seven days, was this repeated, the life-giving plant as often renewing its blossoms, and their vivifying effects on the patient becoming more and more apparent. Toward the third evening Sprigg had so far revived in body as to be able to toss himself about on the bed, and, in mind, so far as to be able to speak. And these manifestations of returning strength became each day more and more decided. When he spoke, however, it was to give utterance, in short and broken sentences, to wild and incoherent fancies, incomprehensible to those who listened, taking, as they did, shape and color from his present experiences; first, as an object of Manitou retribution, now as an object of Manitou regeneration. But always, the moment Bertha, returning all odorous from the glades, entered the room, the tossings and the ravings would cease and he would sink into a deep and peaceful sleep, and so remain throughout the livelong night. At length the imprisoned spirit became so susceptible to the mysterious flowers that the brightening of the wan, young face would begin ere Bertha, returning with a fresh culling of them, had well-nigh entered the house. Of course, this susceptibility comprehended Bertha, too, else she never could have been made the medium of such administration. While engaged in discharging her floral office, she appeared as one in happy trance, never speaking and apparently as oblivious of what was passing around her as Sprigg himself. Always, when she had finished strewing the flowers, she would take her station at the foot of the bed, where, with pretty little arms folded together and resting on the footboard, she would stand gazing fixedly into the unconscious, spirit-like face before her, with a look of dreamy, tender, solemn wonder in her innocent blue eyes, beautiful to behold.