e barren, dreadful, accursed
place that was his home; but his nature was too big and true for any
bitterness--to hate her because she was of a sphere so infinitely apart
from his. But he wouldn't give her his love, he told himself, only his
adoration. He wasn't going to be foolish enough to fall in love with a
star! Yet he was swept with joy, for did not a whole month intervene
before she would go back to her kind? Would she not be in his own
keeping for a while, before she left him to his forests and his snows?
Could he not see her across the fire, exult in her beauty, even aid her
in finding her lost lover? His eye kindled and his face flushed, and
he leaped to help her from the tonneau.

"I suppose you are Mr. Bronson?" she asked.

It was the same friendly but impersonal tone that he had expected, but
he felt no resentment. His spirits had rallied promptly; and he was
already partly adjusted to the fact that his joy in the journey would
consist of the mere, unembellished fact of her presence.

"Yes. Of course this is Miss Tremont and Mr. Lounsbury. And just as
soon as I pack the horses we'll be ready to start."

"I don't see why you haven't got 'em already packed," Lounsburg broke
in. "If I ran my business in this shiftless way----"

Bill turned quickly toward him. He saw at once that other elements
beside pleasure were to enter into this journey. The man spoke
querulously, in a tone to which Bill was neither accustomed nor
reconciled. If the girl had chosen to abuse him, he would have taken it
meekly as his due; but it hadn't been his training to accept too many
rude words from a fellow man. Yet, he remembered, he was the uncle of
the girl's fiance, and that meant he was a privileged person. Besides,
his temper had likely been severely strained by the rough road.

"Don't be ridiculous, Uncle," the girl reproved her. "How did he know
exactly when we were going to arrive?" She tuned back to Bill. "Now
tell us where we can get lunch. I'm starved."

"This country does--stimulate the appetite," Bill responded gravely.
Then he showed them into the hotel.

He did a queer and sprightly little dance as he hurried toward the barn
to get his horse.

III

Mr. Kenly Lounsbury, addressed affectionately as Uncle by his nephew's
fiancee, was in ill humor as he devoured his lunch. In the first place
he hadn't been getting the attention that he had expected. He was used
to being treated with a certa