d
Betty. "That water is so hot. Bessie, will not cold water do as
well?"

"I am sorry. I won't tease any more," said Isaac, taking his
sister's hand. "I'll tell you what, Betty, we owe Alfred Clarke a
great deal, you and I. I am going to tell you something so you will
know how much more you owe him. Do you remember last month when that
red heifer of yours got away. Well, Clarke chased her away and
finally caught her in the woods. He asked me to say I had caught
her. Somehow or other he seems to be afraid of you. I wish you and
he would be good friends. He is a mighty fine fellow."

In spite of the pain Betty was suffering a bright blush suffused her
face at the words of her brother, who, blind as brothers are in
regard to their own sisters, went on praising his friend.

Betty was confined to the house a week or more and during this
enforced idleness she had ample time for reflection and opportunity
to inquire into the perplexed state of her mind.

The small room, which Betty called her own, faced the river and
fort. Most of the day she lay by the window trying to read her
favorite books, but often she gazed out on the quiet scene, the
rolling river, the everchanging trees and the pastures in which the
red and white cows grazed peacefully; or she would watch with idle,
dreamy eyes the flight of the crows over the hills, and the graceful
motion of the hawk as he sailed around and around in the azure sky,
looking like a white sail far out on a summer sea.

But Betty's mind was at variance with this peaceful scene. The
consciousness of a change, which she could not readily define, in
her feelings toward Alfred Clarke, vexed and irritated her. Why did
she think of him so often? True, he had saved her brother's life.
Still she was compelled to admit to herself that this was not the
reason. Try as she would, she could not banish the thought of him.
Over and over again, a thousand times, came the recollection of that
moment when he had taken her up in his arms as though she were a
child. Some vague feeling stirred in her heart as she remembered the
strong yet gentle clasp of his arms.

Several times from her window she had seen him coming across the
square between the fort and her brother's house, and womanlike,
unseen herself, she had watched him. How erect was his carriage. How
pleasant his deep voice sounded as she heard him talking to her
brother. Day by day, as her ankle grew stronger and she knew she
could not re