to Jeffrey himself could she ever by word, or even by the
faintest whisper, or even by a look, show that she knew more than his
and other living mouths could tell her! Never would she be able to
look into his eyes and say:

I _know_ you did not do it.

Only in her most secret heart of hearts could she be glad that she
knew. And even that knowledge was the sacred property of the dead man.
It was not hers. She must try to keep it out of her mind. Love,
horror, and the awful weight of God's seal pressed in upon her to
crush her. There was no way to turn, no step to take. She could not
meet them, could not cope with them.

Stumbling blindly, she crept out of the crowd and down to where Brom
Bones stood by the lake. There the kindly French women found her, her
face buried in the colt's mane, crying hysterically. They bathed her
hands and face and soothed her, and when she was a little quieted they
gave her drink and food. And Ruth, reviving, and knowing that she
would need strength above all things, took what was given and silently
faced the galling weight of the burden that was hers.

The Bishop had taken quick charge of the whole situation. The first
thing to be decided was whether the people should try to hold out
where they were or should attempt at once to walk out to the villages
on the north or west. To the west it would mean forty miles of walking
over ashes with hardly any way of carrying water. To the north it
would mean a longer walk, but they could follow the river and have
water at hand. The danger in that direction was that they might come
into the path of a new fire that would cut them off from all help.

Even if they did come out safe to the villages, what would they do
there? They would be scattered, penniless, homeless. There was nothing
left for them here but the places where their homes had been, but at
least they would be together. The cataclysm through which they had all
passed, which had brought the prosperous and the poverty-stricken
alike to the common level of just a few meals away from starvation,
would here bind them together and give them a common strength for a
new grip on life. If there was food enough to carry them over the four
or five days that would be required to get supplies up from Lowville
or from the head of the new railroad, then they should stay here.

The Bishop went swiftly among them, where already mothers were drawing
family groups aside and parcelling out the doles of foo