"What are you going to do?"

"Interview him. There are things about that dog that want explaining.
I take it he can explain 'em. I don't easily forget. And I owe some
one a deal more than I've yet been able to pay. P'r'aps that dog'll
help me to discharge my debt. Good-bye, Al; I must be off or I shan't
get back this afternoon."

Robb turned away in his cheerful, debonair manner and rode off.
Troubles sat lightly on his stout heart. His effervescent nature never
left him long depressed when Fortune played her freakish tricks upon
him. He had lost his commission upon the sale of Iredale's land, but
he had secured the better deal of the cattle. Therefore he was
satisfied. But Robb was a very persistent man in his seemingly
haphazard fashion. He had promised himself an interview with Hervey
about his dog. He had never forgotten or forgiven the disaster in the
mountains, and he believed that Hervey would be able to set him on the
track of Zachary Smith, whom he felt certain he had seen at the
Winnipeg depot. He hoped so; and, for this purpose, he intended to
spend the night at Loon Dyke Farm.

As her lover rode away Alice turned back to the house. The anxious
look was still upon her face. She knew that there was serious trouble
in the family, and she could see no way of helping these people she
loved. Prudence was in sad disgrace with her mother; she had been
absent from the farm for two days and had only returned that morning.
Mrs. Malling had been distracted with anxiety and grief until the
re-appearance of her daughter, and then, when she saw that she was
well and that no accident had happened to her, she had flown into such
a terrible passion that even Prudence had quailed before her. Never
in her life had Alice seen the kindly old soul give way to such rage.
No disparaging epithet had been too bad for her child, and she had
literally chased the girl from the room in which they had met. Since
then Prudence had retreated to her bedroom, and Hephzibah had poured
out the vials of her wrath upon an empty kitchen, for even the
long-suffering hired girl had feared to face her.

Now, as Alice approached the front door again, she heard the sound of
high-pitched voices coming from the kitchen. Sarah Gurridge had come
over while the farm-wife's rage was at its height; and, as Alice
listened, she thought that these two old cronies were quarrelling. But
her ears quickly told her that her surmise was wrong. She heard
Prudence's