en they don't do
so, they're casual and inconsequent. One likes people with, so to
speak, some continuity of character. By degrees one gets to know how
they'll act and it gives one a sense of reliance." He paused and
added, diffidently: "Anything you did would be wise and generous."

"By degrees?" smiled Flora. "So it's slowly, by patient sapping, the
barriers go down! One could imagine that such things might be
violently stormed. But you're not rash, are you, or often in a hurry?
However, it's time I was getting home."

She waved her hand and rode away, and George, getting into the saddle,
started his team, and thought about her while he listened to the
crackling of the stubble going down beneath the hoofs, and the soft
thud of thrown-back soil as the lengthening rows of clods broke away
from the gleaming shares. What she might have meant by her last remark
he could not tell, though so far as it concerned him, he was ready to
admit that he was addicted to steady plodding. Then his thoughts took
a wider range, and he began to make comparisons. Flora was not
characterized by Sylvia's fastidious refinement; she was more virile
and yet more reposeful. Sylvia's activities spread bustle around her;
she required much assistance and everybody in her neighborhood was
usually impressed into her service, though their combined efforts often
led to nothing. Flora's work was done silently; the results were most
apparent.

Still, the charm Sylvia exerted was always obvious; a thing to rejoice
in and be thankful for. Flora had not the same effect on one, though
he suspected there was a depth of tenderness in her, behind the
barrier. It struck him as a pity that she showed no signs of interest
in West, who of late seemed to have been attracted by the pretty
daughter of a storekeeper at the settlement; but, after all, the lad
was hardly old or serious enough for Flora. There was, however, nobody
else in the district who was nearly good enough for her; and George
felt glad that she was reserved and critical. It would be disagreeable
to contemplate her yielding to any suitor unless he were a man of
exceptional merit.

Then he laughed and called to his horses. He was thinking about
matters that did not concern him; his work was to drive the long furrow
for Sylvia's benefit, and he found pleasure in it. Bright sunshine
smote the burnished clods; scattered, white-edged clouds drove across
the sky of dazzling blue, fling