For half an hour
Jan gazed upon them, reading the words slowly, until he came to the
last page.
When there came a movement from over against the wall, he lifted for
an instant a pair of startled eyes. Cummins was turning in his sleep.
Soundlessly Jan tiptoed across the floor, opened the door, without
disturbing the slumbering man and went out into the night. In the
south and east there glowed a soft blaze of fire where the big spring
moon was coming up over the forest. As Jan turned his face toward it,
a new and strange longing crept into his heart. He stretched out his
arms, with the papers and his violin clutched in his hands, as if from
out of that growing glory a wonderful spirit was calling to him.
For the first time in his lonely life it came to him--this call of the
great world beyond the wilderness; and suddenly he crushed the woman's
letter to his lips, and his voice burst from him in whispering,
thrilling eagerness:
"I will come to you--some day--w'en ze leetle Melisse come too!"
He rolled the written pages together, wrapped them in the faded red
cloth, and concealed them again in the box of his violin before he
reentered the cabin.
The next morning Cummins stood in the door, and said:
"How warm the sun is! The snow and ice are going, Jan.
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