As an
old neighbor, and one of your most sincere admirers, who would feel
greatly honored by your friendship, I--should like to have you accept
this--" He held something out to Billy Louise and pulled open the door
for instant escape. "Good night, Miss MacDonald. I think it will
storm." Then he was gone, hurrying down the narrow path with long
strides, his tall figure bent to the wind, his coat napping around his
lean legs.

Billy Louise closed the door and her half-open mouth and let down her
lifted eyelids. Standing with her back against the wall, she turned
that something--an envelope--over twice, then tore off the end and
pulled out the contents. It was the note she and Marthy had signed no
longer than an hour ago, and written large across the face of it were
the words: "Paid, Samuel Seabeck."

"The--old--darling!" said Billy Louise under her breath and went
straight in to show it to Marthy.

CHAPTER XXVIII

ALL RIGHT AND COMFY

Seabeck was a fine weather prophet, for that time at least. It did
storm that night and the next day and the next; a howling, tearing
blizzard that carried the snow so far and so fast that it almost wore
it out; so that when the spasm was over, the land lay bleaker and
raggeder than ever, with hard-packed drifts in all the hollows and bare
ground between. Of course it was out of the question for Billy Louise
to leave the Cove while the storm lasted, so she took care of Marthy
and the pigs and chickens and cows, and between whiles she tormented
herself with direful pictures of Ward up there alone on Mill Creek.
Sometimes she saw him raving in fever and wanting a drink which he
could not get, so that thirst tortured him; then calling for her, when
she could not come. Sometimes she saw him trying to hobble somewhere
on those crutches, and falling exhausted--breaking more bones, perhaps;
or catching more cold, or something. She was a most distressed Billy
Louise, believe me, and she wished a hundred times a day that she had
stayed with Ward; she wished that, in spite of Marthy's need of her.
She was terribly sorry for Marthy; but Marthy had not broken any leg,
and besides, she was not in love with Marthy.

On the second day John Pringle battled through the storm to see what
Billy Louise would have him do. And Billy Louise gave him instructions
about finding a man and sending him up to the Cove at once, and looking
after the Wolverine ranch until she came, and having Phoe