though I scarcely think they
will get there," said the man. "I have never stopped here, and it
wasn't astonishing they fancied the place a pile of snow. While I was
getting the furs out, they slipped from me."

Miss Barrington now knew where they were. The shanty was used by the
remoter settlers as a half-way house where they slept occasionally on
their long journey to the railroad, and as there was a birch bluff not
far away, it was the rule that whoever occupied it should replace the
fuel he had consumed. The last man had, however, not been liberal.

"But what are we to do?" she asked, with a little gasp of dismay.

"Stay here until the morning," said Winston quietly. "Unfortunately, I
can't even spare you my company. The stable has fallen in, and it
would be death to stand outside, you see. In the meanwhile, pull out
some of the straw and put it in the stove."

"Can you not do that?" asked Miss Barrington, feeling that she must
commence at once, if she was to keep this man at a befitting distance.

Winston laughed. "Oh, yes, but you will freeze if you stand still, and
these billets require splitting. Still, if you have special objections
to doing what I ask you, you can walk up and down rapidly."

The girl glanced at him a moment and then lowered her eyes. "Of course
I was wrong. Do you wish to hear that I am sorry?"

Winston, answering nothing, swung an ax round his head, and the girl
kneeling beside the stove noticed the sinewy suppleness of his frame
and the precision with which the heavy blade cleft the billets. The
ax, she knew, is by no means an easy tool to handle. At last the red
flame crackled, and, though she had not intended the question to be
malicious, there was a faint trace of irony in her voice as she asked,
"Is there any other thing you wish me to do?"

Winston flung two bundles of straw down beside the stove, and stood
looking at her gravely. "Yes," he said. "I want you to sit down and
let me wrap this sleigh robe about you."

The girl submitted, and did not shrink visibly from his touch, when he
drew the fur robe about her shoulders and packed the end of it round
her feet. Still, there was a faint warmth in her face, and she was
grateful for his unconcernedness.

"Fate or fortune has placed me in charge of you until to-morrow, and if
the position is distasteful to you, it is not my fault," he said.
"Still, I feel the responsibility, and it would be a little less
difficult