"I am not able to bear the Shaker life!" sighed Nathan. "Elder Gray allows
there be such!"
"Nor I," murmured Hetty. "Eldress Harriet knows I am no saint!"
Hetty's head was now on Nathan's shoulder. The stiff Shaker cap had resisted
bravely, but the girl's head had yielded to the sweet proximity. Youth called
to youth triumphantly; the Spirit was unheard, and all the theories of
celibacy and the angelic life that had been poured into their ears vanished
into thin air. The thick shade of the spruce tree hid the kiss that would have
been so innocent, had they not given themselves to the Virgin Church; the
drip, drip, drip of the branches on their young heads passed unheeded.
Then, one following the other silently along the highroad, hurrying along in
the shadows of the tall trees, stealing into the edge of the woods, or hiding
behind a thicket of alders at the fancied sound of a footstep or the distant
rumble of a wagon, Nathan and Hetty forsook the faith of Mother Ann and went
out into the world as Adam and Eve left the garden, with the knowledge of good
and evil implanted in their hearts. The voice of Eldress Abby pursued Hetty in
her flight like the voice in a dream.
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