efore I met
you," remarked Col. Zane. "You may not think so, but a home and
pretty little woman will do wonders for any man. My brothers have
nothing to keep them steady."

"Perhaps. I do not believe that Jonathan ever will get married.
Silas may; he certainly has been keeping company long enough with
Mary Bennet. You are the only Zane who has conquered that
adventurous spirit and the desire to be always roaming the woods in
search of something to kill. Your old boy, Noah, is growing up like
all the Zanes. He fights with all the children in the settlement. I
cannot break him of it. He is not a bully, for I have never known
him to do anything mean or cruel. It is just sheer love of
fighting."

"Ha! Ha! I fear you will not break him of that," answered Col. Zane.
"It is a good joke to say he gets it all from the Zanes. How about
the McCollochs? What have you to say of your father and the Major
and John McColloch? They are not anything if not the fighting kind.
It's the best trait the youngster could have, out here on the
border. He'll need it all. Don't worry about him. Where is Betty?"

"I told her to take the children out for a sled ride. Betty needs
exercise. She stays indoors too much, and of late she looks pale."

"What! Betty not looking well! She was never ill in her life. I have
noticed no change in her."

"No, I daresay you have not. You men can't see anything. But I can,
and I tell you, Betty is very different from the girl she used to
be. Most of the time she sits and gazes out of her window. She used
to be so bright, and when she was not romping with the children she
busied herself with her needle. Yesterday as I entered her room she
hurriedly picked up a book, and, I think, intentionally hid her face
behind it. I saw she had been crying."

"Come to think of it, I believe I have missed Betty," said Col.
Zane, gravely. "She seems more quiet. Is she unhappy? When did you
first see this change?"

"I think it a little while after Mr. Clarke left here last fall."

"Clarke! What has he to do with Betty? What are you driving at?"
exclaimed the Colonel, stopping in front of his wife. His faced had
paled slightly. "I had forgotten Clarke. Bess, you can't mean--"

"Now, Eb, do not get that look on your face. You always frighten
me," answered his wife, as she quietly placed her hand on his arm.
"I do not mean anything much, certainly nothing against Mr. Clarke.
He was a true gentleman. I really liked him."