.
Waldstricker, stating that she would meet him in his rooms this
afternoon.

His mind was busily at work with many problems. For the past week he had
had no word from Tessibel Skinner. Her silence was significant.
Mischief-making anxiety, which always pictures the worst side of a
situation, tormented him cruelly. He hoped Helen might have news from
the shanty by the lakeside.

When Mrs. Waldstricker finally appeared, his first impulse was to ask
about the squatter girl, but the troubled expression of his sister's
face checked the question on his lips. He drew her tenderly into his
arms, and attempted to comfort her with reassuring pats and caresses.

"You shouldn't have ventured out, dear," he chided. "Sit down here!...
There! Now tell me what's the matter."

"I'm so miserable, Forrie," she wept. "I can't do a thing with
Ebenezer.... He's in such a state of temper all the time!"

"Don't try to talk for a moment, dearest," soothed the lawyer, much
moved.

"But I must--I want to! It seems as if my whole life has been upset in
some unaccountable manner. And it isn't any better since Frederick and
Madelene went away. I was in hopes after they'd gone, I might have some
peace."

"Is it still--" Young's inquiry was broken off by his auditor's
exclamation.

"Yes, it's Tessibel Skinner! He seems perfectly possessed about her. I
can't understand why, either. I always tell him she's nothing to us. He
has even gone so far--Oh, Forrie, dear, tell me it isn't so!"

"What isn't so?" asked Deforrest, puzzled.

"Ebenezer says--he says you'd marry--" The inquisitor's courage oozed
away before she finished her sentence. Her brother turned and strode up
and down the room, while Mrs. Waldstricker's eyes, full of questioning
anguish, followed his tall figure.

"I suppose he said I'd marry Tessibel Skinner. Is that it?" His voice
was low, deep and intense. Wheeling about he looked across at his
sister.

She got up from her chair and went to him. Her desire to placate her
brother supported her determination to know his precise attitude toward
her husband. She placed her hand on his arm and replied hurriedly,

"Yes, that's what he said. I told him it was no such thing; that you did
what you could for the lonely child without a thought--"

Deforrest's hand closed over the speaker's.

"You were mistaken, then," he asserted quietly. "I'd have married
Tessibel Skinner long ago, if she'd consented."

"Forrie, dear, you wouldn'