fresh blue dress, that he blinked and smiled, half
bewildered.

"What did Jimmy go to town for?" she asked.

"Whatever it was ye wanted," answered Dannie.

"What was it I wanted?" persisted Mary.

"He dinna tell me," replied Dannie, and the smile wavered.

"Me, either," said Mary, and she stooped and picked up her sewing.

Dannie went out and gently closed the door. He stood for a second on
the step, forcing himself to take an inventory of the work. There were
the chickens to feed, and the cows to milk, feed, and water. Both the
teams must be fed and bedded, a fire in his own house made, and two
dozen rats skinned, and the skins put to stretch and cure. And at the
end of it all, instead of a bed and rest, there was every probability
that he must drive to town after Jimmy; for Jimmy could get helpless
enough to freeze in a drift on a dollar sixty-five.

"Oh, Jimmy, Jimmy!" muttered Dannie. "I wish ye wadna." And he was not
thinking of himself, but of the eyes of the woman inside.

So Dannie did all the work, and cooked his supper, because he never ate
in Jimmy's cabin when Jimmy was not there. Then he skinned rats, and
watched the clock, because if Jimmy did not come by eleven, it meant he
must drive to town and bring him home. No wonder Jimmy chilled at the
trapping when he kept his blood on fire with whiskey. At half-past ten,
Dannie, with scarcely half the rats finished, went out into the storm
and hitched to the single buggy. Then he tapped at Mary Malone's door,
quite softly, so that he would not disturb her if she had gone to bed.
She was not sleeping, however, and the loneliness of her slight figure,
as she stood with the lighted room behind her, struck Dannie forcibly,
so that his voice trembled with pity as he said: "Mary, I've run out o'
my curing compound juist in the midst of skinning the finest bunch o'
rats we've taken frae the traps this winter. I am going to drive to
town fra some more before the stores close, and we will be back in less
than an hour. I thought I'd tell ye, so if ye wanted me ye wad know why
I dinna answer. Ye winna be afraid, will ye?"

"No," replied Mary, "I won't be afraid."

"Bolt the doors, and pile on plenty of wood to keep ye warm," said
Dannie as he turned away.

Just for a minute Mary stared out into the storm. Then a gust of wind
nearly swept her from her feet, and she pushed the door shut, and slid
the heavy bolt into place. For a little while she leaned and listen