would ask herself one moment, and the next would be harassed
by the certainty that equal perfection in housekeeping and entertainment
would be expected of her. There was no escaping her fate. If she was to
learn these things, she must learn them of John's mother. There was no way
of acquiring them beforehand. Elizabeth faced her position squarely: she
decided to accept her teacher. At least Mrs. Hunter seemed willing to make
it easy for her.

When Elizabeth went home that night she spoke in glowing terms of Mrs.
Hunter's friendly reception, and praised the real merit of her
housekeeping, letting Luther see that she hoped to acquire it, and left
the little group around the supper table in great good humour because the
visit had been a success. She took Luther after the meal was over and went
to look for the eggs about the haystacks, talking all the while of John
Hunter's mother in the happiest manner she could assume. The visit to
John's home had made her a bit homesick for John himself. Luther's
presence had so completely filled the days since John's departure that she
had not been lonesome for him, but the house with which he was associated
had brought John back to the foreground of her consciousness with a rush,
and Luther saw that she was aglow with longing for the man she was to
marry. They did not walk as usual after the eggs were hunted, but went
back to the house, where Elizabeth excused herself and soon went to bed.
John was expected now at any time.

When John did arrive two days later he found a welcome awaiting him that
was all that the most exacting of men could have desired, a thing which
astonished him somewhat, for rumour had reached him as soon as he had come
into the home neighbourhood that the new Swede had cut him out. John came
to see Elizabeth with curiosity predominating in his mind, though there
was a distinct feeling of determination to master the situation if rumour
had been right.

Luther was not at the house when John Hunter arrived. Elizabeth's delight
over her lover's return was not a thing to be deceived about, but one
thing left its impress upon his mind: Elizabeth called this new man by his
given name and spoke of him as one speaks of an intimate. This was soon
dismissed from John's mind, however, for Elizabeth was all agog to learn
about the Mitchell County land which he said he had bought, and John
Hunter stretched his legs out comfortably in the mended rocker of Nathan
Hornby's litt