May her shadow never grow less . This evening I started out for a last long lingering ramble in my beloved Stillwater woods . The last , I thought , because I knew Sidney Elliot was expected home next week , and after that I 'd have to be cooped up on our lawn . I dressed myself comfortably for climbing fences and skimming over snowy wastes . That is , I put on the shortest old tweed skirt I have and a red jacket with sleeves three years behind the fashion , but jolly pockets to put your hands in , and a still redder tam . Thus accoutred , I sallied forth . It was such a lovely evening that I could n't help enjoying myself in spite of my sorrows . The sun was low and creamy , and the snow was so white and the shadows so slender and blue . All through the lovely Stillwater woods was a fine frosty stillness . It was splendid to skim down those long wonderful avenues of crusted snow , with the mossy grey boles on either hand , and overhead the lacing , leafless boughs , I just drank in the air and the beauty until my very soul was thrilling , and I went on and on and on until I was most delightfully lost . That is , I did n't know just where I was , but the woods were n't so big but that I 'd be sure to come out safely somewhere ; and , oh , it was so glorious to be there all alone and never a creature to worry me . At last I turned into a long aisle that seemed to lead right out into the very heart of a deep-red overflowing winter sunset . At its end I found a fence , and I climbed up on that fence and sat there , so comfortably , with my back against a big beech and my feet dangling . Then I saw him ! I knew it was Sidney Elliot in a moment . He was just as tall and just as black-eyed ; he was still given to lounging evidently , for he was leaning against the fence a panel away from me and looking at me with an amused smile . After my first mad impulse to rush away and bury myself in the wilderness that smile put me at ease . If he had looked grave or polite I would have been as miserably shy as I 've always been in a man 's presence . But it was the smile of a grandfather for a child , and I just grinned cheerfully back at him . He ploughed along through the thick drift that was soft and spongy by the fence and came close up to me .
`` You must be little Cornelia , '' he said XXXXX another aged smile .
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