e, but his toil
had now toughened him, roughened him, and strengthened his heart of
steel. November, with its Indian summer smoothness, with its fine,
glorious light that glowed over West Albany, passed, and the year went
out in beauty and December followed, still windless and mild. But that
was the last touch of mercy. January rushed down upon them, fierce,
tempestuous, and up and down the yards, from his window, Fairfax watched
the whirling shrouds of snow sweep over the ground, cover the tracks,
and through the veil the lights flickered like candles that the snuffers
of the storm were vainly trying to extinguish. He put on an extra
flannel shirt under his red shirt; he buttoned his vest high, got into
his coat, jammed his hat on fiercely and shook himself like a reluctant
dog before going to his work. Under his window he could hear the
soughing of the wind and it sucked under the door; he was sure that he
would never be warm here again.

"Jove!" he thought, "there will be two inches of snow inside my window
when I get back at midnight." He drove his razor into the crack to
stiffen the casement, and took an old flannel shirt and laid it along
the ledge. As he did so the storm blew a whirl of snow across the pane.

"Siberia," he muttered to himself; "don't talk to me about Russia. This
is far enough North for me!"

He could not have said why the thought of the children came, but its
spirit came back to him. For months he had fiercely thrust out every
memory of the children, but to-night, as the wind struck him, he thought
of their games and the last time they had played that romping sport
together. Like a warm garment to shield him against the cold he was just
going to fight, he seemed to feel Bella's arms around his neck as they
had clung whilst he rushed with her through the hall. It was just a year
ago that he had arrived in the unfriendly city of his kinsmen, and as he
thought of them, going down the narrow dark stairs of the shanty hotel,
strangely enough it was not the icy welcome that he remembered, but
Bella--Bella in her corner with her book, Bella with her bright red
dress, Bella with her dancing eyes and her eager face.

"You've got an awfully light smile, Cousin Antony."

The door of the hotel eating-room was open and dimly lighted. Kenny and
his wife were talking before the stove. They heard their lodger's
step--a unique step in the house--and the woman, who would have gone
down on her knees and black