of natural beauty. She did go to many of the
stores around, buying trifles such as might happen to find themselves
there and suit her: a small looking-glass here, a ribbon or a piece of
lace there, and as she leaned across the rough trestle counter she
generally remarked to the storekeeper, "I'm going to be married." She
said it in the shyest, happiest tone imaginable, and a little blush
stole over her smooth cheeks. In this way the news got round to
Katrine's old friends and associates. She would have liked to have told
them herself, but the old hunting grounds were forbidden to her now, and
Stephen's wishes made a barrier between her and the entrance of all the
saloons. He had tried to make her give him a solemn promise never to
enter one again, but this Katrine would not do.

"I can't be tied like that," she had said. "Something might occur to
make it necessary for me to go into one of those places; and if I had
promised you in this way, I could not. You have said you don't wish me
to go; I have said I won't. Isn't that enough?" And Stephen had looked
into the clear dark eyes and had said "Quite."

The day of Stephen's marriage, the day when Katrine was to arrive as a
bride at the west gulch, was calm and still. There was no wind and no
snow falling. The sky stretched black and gloomy above the plains of
snow; it was a day of the Alaskan winter, but still a good day for that.
Stephen had gone down the previous day, and slept the night in Dawson.
Talbot was waiting at the cabin to receive them on their return. As he
stood at the little window that overlooked the trail, waiting for the
first glimpse of them, and staring across the dismal waste that ran into
grey and dreary mist in the distance, a great revolt stirred in his
usually calm and philosophic breast--a sudden longing swept over him for
the blue skies and warm air of the lands he was accustomed to, and a
wilder longing still for a glimpse of the sunlight held in two eyes that
were fairer than any sky. He shut his teeth hard, and his hand closed
tightly on the window frame. "Only a little longer," he muttered to
himself, and then far in the distance came a soft silvery tinkle of
bells. Recalled to himself, he relaxed his face in a pleasant smile, and
went to the door and opened it. In a second or two they came in sight,
riding single file up the narrow trail, the girl first and Stephen
following. She wore a large skin coat of some shaggy fur which concealed
h