n those days he could serve her, toil for her,
devote himself wholly to her happiness. He could see her face and know
her beauty, and it was all worth the price he paid. For life in the
North is life in its simplest phases; and the northern men have had a
chance to learn that strangest truth of all,--that he who counts the
cost of his hour of pleasure shall be crushed in the jaws of Destiny,
and that a day of joy may be worth, in the immutable balance of being, a
whole life of sorrow.

Virginia had no suspicion of his thoughts. She was still enthralled by
the after-image of the music, and her own thoughts were soaring far
away. But soon the noise of the storm began to force itself into her
consciousness. It caused her to consider her own prospects for the
night.

Vaguely she knew that this night was different from the others. The two
previous nights she had been ill and half-unconscious: her very
helplessness appealed to Bill's chivalry. To-night she stood on her own
feet. Matters were down to a normal basis again, and for the first time
she began to experience a certain embarrassment in her position. She
was suddenly face to face with the fact that the night stretched before
her,--and she in a snowswept cabin in the full power of a strange man.
She felt more than a little uneasy.

Already she was tired and longed to go to sleep, but she was afraid to
speak her wish. As the silence of the cabin deepened, and the noise of
the storm grew louder--blustering at the roof, shaking the door, and
beating on the window pane--her uneasiness gave way to stark fear.

But all at once she looked up to find Bill's eyes upon her, full of
sympathy and understanding. "You'll want to turn in now," he told her.
"You take the bunk again, of course--I'll sleep on the floor. I'm
comfortable there--I could sleep on rocks if need be."

"Can't you get some fir boughs--to-morrow?" The girl spoke nervously.

"They'd be in the way, but maybe I can arrange it. And now I've got to
fix your boidoir."

He took one of the boxes that served as a chair and stood it up on the
floor, just in front of her bunk. Then, holding one of the blankets in
his arm and a few nails in his hand, he climbed upon the box. She
understood in an instant. He was curtaining off the entire end of the
cabin where Virginia slept.

The girl's relief showed in her face. Her eyes lighted, her
apprehension was largely dispelled. She wasn't blind to his
th