I almost
think if you could put yourself in my place you would understand."

Laura smiled in a suggestive fashion, and looked down at the hands she
laid upon her knee. They were capable, as well as shapely, and, as he
had noticed more than once, the signs of toil were very plain on
them.

"I never did an hour's useful work before I came out West," she said.

She had produced the effect she probably desired, for in the midst of
his sudden pity for her Nasmyth was troubled with a sense of shame.
This girl, he realized, had been reared as gently as he had been
himself, and he knew that she now toiled most of every day at what in
the older country would have been considered most unwomanly tasks.
Still, she had borne with it cheerfully, and had courage to spare for
others whose strength was less than hers.

He sat silent for almost a minute, looking down between the great
pines into the valley, and, as he did so, he vaguely felt the
influence of the wilderness steal over him. The wind had fallen now,
and there was a deep stillness in the climbing forest which the roar
of the river emphasized. Those trees were vast of girth, and they were
very cold. In spite of whirling snow, and gale, and frost, they had
grown slowly to an impressive stateliness. In Nature, as he
recognized, all was conflict, and it was the fine adjustment of
opposing forces that made for the perfection of grace, and strength,
and beauty. Then it seemed to him that his companion was like the
forest--still, and strong, and stately--because she had been through
the stress of conflict too. These were, however, fancies, and he
turned around again to her with a sudden resolution expressed in his
face and attitude.

"There's an argument you might have used, Miss Waynefleet," he told
her. "I said I would try to do you credit, and it almost seems as if I
had forgotten it. Well, if you will wait a little, I will try again."

He rose, and, crossing over, stood close beside her, with his hand
laid gently on her shoulder, looking down on her with a quiet smile.
"After all," he added, "there's a good deal you might have said that
you haven't--in fact, it's one of your strong points that, as a rule,
you content yourself with going just far enough. Well, because you
wish it, I am somehow going to build that dam again."

She looked up at him swiftly with a gleam in her eyes, and Nasmyth
stooped a little, while his hand closed hard upon her shoulder.

"You saved my