r
all, what seems wise to me might appear to be folly to you. I think if
ever what looks like a chance of happiness is offered me, I shall take
all risks and clutch at it."

She picked up a book, as if to intimate that she had no more to say, and
Mrs. Colston wondered whether her worst fears were justified or whether
Muriel had been behaving with unusual perverseness. In either case, she
might make things worse by laboring the subject. She hesitated a moment
and then went out in search of her husband.

"Harry," she said, "we have been away a long while. Don't you think it is
time to go home?"

"No," he answered; "I haven't thought so. What suggested the idea?"

It was obvious that he had no suspicion of her motive, and she was not
prepared to explain that she wished to place Muriel beyond Prescott's
reach.

"Well," she said lamely, "aren't you rather neglecting your duties?"

"No," Colston replied with a smile; "as they're to a large extent merely
formal ones, I believe they can wait a little longer without much harm
being done."

Mrs. Colston was surprised. She had not expected such an admission from
her husband, though she agreed with him. Harry was not, as a rule,
susceptible to new impressions, but there was a subtle influence in the
simple life on the prairies which altered one's point of view and led to
one's forming a new estimate of values. She had felt this. Things which
had seemed essential in England somehow lost their importance in Canada.

"Besides," he resumed, "you will remember that I made arrangements to be
away a year, if necessary, and perhaps if I make the most of my
opportunities in this country, I may have something worth while to say
when we go home again."

This was more in his usual vein; but his wife did not encourage him.
Harry was apt to grow tiresome in his improving mood.

"But you don't think of staying the full year?" she asked in alarm.

"Oh, no; we might wait another week or two, or even a month more. It
wouldn't be the thing to desert Jernyngham; and, as we're mixed up in it,
I feel it would be better to see the matter through." He smiled at his
wife with cumbrous gallantry. "Then, though you always look charming,
you're now unusually fresh and fit; there's no doubt that the place
agrees with you."

Mrs. Colston could not deny it. She yielded for the present, deciding to
wait until some turn of events rendered him more amenable. In spite of
his good humor, Harry was obst