elf, then!"

"You are inexorable," laughing. "Your demand makes me think of an Indian
Council. Of course, you know that when they meet to discuss problems,
they sit silent for hours. The avowed purpose of conferring paralyzes
their tongues, apparently, as you have paralyzed mine. If I ever had an
idea I could not produce it now."

"The Quakers have a prettier custom. They sit in silence till the spirit
moves. I will be the spirit that moves you;" and so adroitly did she
continue that unconsciously the man spoke of more serious things--his
likings, his beliefs.

"Why did you become an American?" she asked at length, the question that
had often puzzled her.

"My mother was an American." His voice took a note of tenderness which
Winifred remembered long. "But when I left the service it was with no
thought of choosing this as my country. I had no desire to return to
England, however, and the chances for business seemed greater on this
side of the line."

The girl's deep eyes gazed directly into his with flattering intentness.

"And so the years slipped by until I found that my interests were all
here, and I could not leave, even if I had cared to. Isn't that true,
judge?" he remarked, as Arthur Latimer came across the lawn. "You wanted
to make a voter of me, for your own dark purposes----"

"Philip always hits the bull's-eye," admitted the judge, interrupting
with a menacing gesture of affection at the implication. "You would not
leave the State. That's just it. The most of us came into the Northwest,
as we thought, to make a fortune and go back East or South to enjoy it.
But whether we have made money or not, we discovered that we are here to
stay. The old ties in other communities are gone. Old friends are dead.
Old memories faded. We aren't all such enthusiasts as the doctor, who
lives at Fort Benton for sheer love of the place, but----"

"I know just how he feels," cried Winifred, quick to defend her old
friend. "I could go back there myself to live. We have a love-feast
every time we speak of the dear old town, and that's every time I see
him."

"I think," said Danvers, slowly, making sure of his words, "that I have
come to love Montana more than my native land, though that was certainly
very far from my feeling when I came back to Fort Benton as a civilian,
and asked for work. I told the man that I was an Englishman, but I made
a mistake. There was a long list of applicants ahead of
me--Americans--to whom p