o different," he acknowledged as he turned away, but
from that moment he had dedicated himself to a vasselage out of which
he hoped to salvage no personal reward.

When she had watched him tramp up the muddy slope from the bank to the
street, Alexander lifted her chin and tossed her head, as if to shake
away some cobwebbing thought from the brain. Then with an energetic
step she came over and without preamble announced, "Mr. Brent, I don't
aim ter tarry hyar no longer then ther soonest time I kin git out.
Let's me an' you talk business."

Brent nodded. "Is it confidential? Do you want me to send this man
away?" he inquired, with a mischievous glance at the giant whose eyes,
save when they dropped before her own, remained fixed on the girl with
a devouring intentness.

Alexander shook her head. "What fer?" she demanded. "I reckon we
hain't got no need of whisperin' erbout our transactions."

She paused for an instant and went on. "Paw an' you measured up that
timber back yon, didn't ye? An' ye agreed on ther price too, didn't
ye?"

"We settled both points. I have a memorandum, but----"

"I knows what ye aims ter say," interrupted Alexander. "Ye means ter
name hit ter me thet them logs hain't all hyar because some of 'em
busted loose comin' through ther gorge. What I wanted ter ask ye is
thet you an' me should measure up thet raft now an' figger out what's
gone, so thet I kin tell paw----" She halted as abruptly as though a
blow on the mouth had broken off the utterance and a paroxysm of pain
crossed her face. The ever present dread had struck back that there
might be no father to whom she could report. With a swift recovery,
though, she finished. "So thet I kin fotch tidin's back home es ter
how much we gits."

When these reckonings had been made Brent inquired: "Do you understand
the terms of this contract between your father and myself?"

Her reply was guarded. "We've done talked hit over."

"It was agreed," the buyer told her, "that I was to accept this stuff
and pay for it at some point from which I could deliver it in the
Bluegrass either by rail or navigable water. If you like, I'm ready to
pay now."

He had seen Alexander under some trying circumstances and never with
any hint of breakdown, yet just now he wondered if unexpected good
tidings were not about to accomplish what bad news could not--carry out
the dam of her own hard-schooled repression on a flood of tears. Her
eyes became