ns, "plunged" would have been the
better word for it. English reserve is not esteemed in that land, and
the axemen danced with the mingled verve of grey Caledonia and
light-hearted France, while a little man with fiery hair from the
misty Western Isles shrieked encouragement at them, and maddened them
with his fiddle. Even Nasmyth and Laura gave themselves up to the
thrill of it, but as they swung together through the clashing of the
measure, which some of their companions did not know very well,
confused recollections swept through their minds, and they recalled
dances in far different surroundings. Now and then they even fell back
into old tricks of speech, and then, remembering, broke off with a
ringing laughter. They were young still, and the buoyancy of the
country they had adopted was in both of them.

The dance ended too soon, and, when the music broke off with a crash
of clanging chords, Nasmyth led his partner out of the press into a
little log-walled room where the half-built dynamos stood. It was
lighted, but a sharp cool air and the fret of the river came in
through a black opening in one wall. Laura sat upon a large deal case,
and Nasmyth, looking down upon her, leaned against a dynamo. He smiled
as he recognized that she grasped the significance of the throbbing
roar of water.

"It was very pleasant while it lasted, but--and it's a pity--the music
has stopped," he said. "What we are now listening to is the turmoil of
a Canadian river."

Laura laughed, though there was a wistfulness in her eyes. "Oh, I
understand, but couldn't you have let me forget it just for to-night?"
she said. "I suppose that privilege was permitted to Cinderella."

The man felt curiously sorry for her as he remembered how hard her
life was at the lonely ranch, but he knew she would not be pleased if
he expressed his thoughts.

"Well," he observed reflectively, "a thing often looks most
attractive when it's forbidden you, or a long way off, and, you see,
there are always compensations. In fact, I'm beginning to come across
quite a few of them."

He broke off for a moment, and Laura, who noticed that he looked at
her, fancied she understood in what direction his thoughts were
drifting; but he went on again with a laugh.

"After all," he said, "there are exiles who realize that they are in
various ways better off than in all probability they would have been
had they stayed in the land they were driven out of."

"Ah," answered