elapsed again
into moody silence when he received a frank, though smiling, rebuff.
Clearly the meal was not an enjoyable one for him.

All things of human invention come to an end, and at last Big Jerry
lifted his towering frame from his chair to indicate that the supper was
over. With obvious relief Judd crossed to the door and, opening it,
announced that the storm had nearly passed. It was still raining,
however.

"Ef yo' air goin' back ter the village, stranger, I'll be pleased ter
sot ye on yo'r way," he announced as he drew on his coat, and to
Donald's mind the sentence carried an unmistakable _double entente_.

Nevertheless he answered promptly, "Thanks, I'd be much obliged if you
would. Perhaps Mr. Webb can spare me a lantern, too, since these paths
are unfamiliar to ..."

"Sho, yo haint a-goin' out er this house ter-night, friend," broke in
the old man. "Leastwise, ef yo'r willin' ter put up with sech
accommodations as the loft room offers ye. Thar haint no sense of yer
takin' er five-mile walk through them drenched bushes, an' gittin'
soaked yerself."

"In course yer goin' ter stay," echoed the girl, with childlike delight.
"Besides, I wants ter hear lots more erbout the city an' city folks."

"But I have already imposed enough on your hospitality," protested
Donald, hesitatingly, since the invitation held a strong appeal for him.

"Yo' haint imposed at all. Set yo'rself down. I shore appreciates yo'r
company."

Judd scowled from the doorway, then flung back over his shoulder a
short, "Wall, I reckon I'll be startin' home now," and, without further
words, he went out, closing the door behind him with unnecessary
violence. Donald said nothing, but he was frankly amused; for it was
very apparent that the young mountaineer felt that he had a proprietary
interest in Rose, and was undisguisedly jealous of the stranger who was
held in such high favor.

Rose, however, lost no time thinking of her lover,--if lover she regarded
him,--but flew about the final household duties, humming happily, and
now and then breaking into unfinished snatches of song like a wild wood
bird. Evidently the slight burn no longer troubled her and was already
forgotten.

Her work finished, she joined the two men, who were smoking their pipes
before the blazing fire, and seated herself crosslegged at her
grandfather's feet. Mike got up leisurely from his post beneath his
master's chair, stretched forward and back, yawned prodigiou