Yet he realized clearly that only she could help him , only she could guide him back to the path he had missed . It seemed to him that she held in her keeping all the good of his life , all the beauty of his past , all the possibilities of his future . Hers was the master word , but how should he dare ask her to utter it ? They walked among the firs until the stars came out , and they talked of many things . She had kept her freshness of soul and her ideals untarnished . In the peace of the old valley she had lived a life , narrow outwardly , wondrously deep and wide in thought and aspiration . Her native hills bounded the vision of her eyes , but the outlook of the soul was far and unhindered . In the quiet places and the green ways she had found what he had failed to find -- the secret of happiness and content . He knew that if this woman had walked hand in hand with him through the years , life , even in the glare and tumult of that world beyond the hills , would never have lost its meaning for him . Oh , fool and blind that he had been ! While he had sought and toiled afar , the best that God had meant for him had been here in the home of youth . When darkness came down through the firs he told her all this , haltingly , blunderingly , yearningly . `` Joyce , is it too late ? Can you forgive my mistake , my long blindness ? Can you care for me again -- a little ? '' She turned her face upward to the sky between the swaying fir tops and he saw the reflection of a star in her eyes . `` I have never ceased to care , '' she said in a low tone . `` I never really wanted to cease . It would have left life too empty . If my love means so much to you it is yours , Cuthbert -- it always has been yours . ''
He drew her close into his arms , and as he felt her heart beating against his he understood that he had XXXXX the way back to simple happiness and true wisdom , the wisdom of loving and the happiness of being loved .
bounded found held lost means meant seemed sought toiled told