lf and the vague longings
that came upon him. He never asked her pity, but she found something
pathetic in his attitude, for it seemed he knew that the stress and the
turmoil alone could be his. Why this was so she did not know, but it
was with a confidence that could not be shaken now she felt it was
through no fault of his. His last words, however, showed her that the
mask was on again.

"I scarcely fancy you are well enough, but if you must go, I wonder
whether you would do a good turn to Alfreton?" she said. "The lad has
been speculating--and he seems anxious lately."

"It is natural that they should all bring their troubles to you."

Maud Barrington laughed. "I, however, generally pass them on to you."

A trace of color crept into the man's face, and his voice was a trifle
hoarse as he said, "Do you know that I would ask nothing better than to
take every care you had, and bear it for you?"

"Still," said the girl, with a little smile, "that is very evidently
out of the question."

Winston rose, and she saw that one hand was closed as he looked down
upon her. Then he turned and stared out at the prairie, but there was
something very significant in the rigidity of his attitude, and his
face seemed to have grown suddenly careworn when he glanced back at her.

"Of course," he said quietly. "You see, I have been ill, and a little
off my balance lately. That accounts for erratic speeches, though I
meant it all. Colonel Barrington is still in Winnipeg?"

"Yes," said the girl, who was not convinced by the explanation, very
quietly. "I am a little anxious about him, too. He sold wheat
forward, and I gather from his last letter has not bought it yet. Now,
as Alfreton is driving in to-morrow, he could take you."

Winston was grateful to her, and still more to Miss Barrington, who
came in just then, while he did not see the girl again before he
departed with Alfreton on the morrow. When they had left Silverdale a
league behind, the trail dipped steeply amid straggling birches to a
bridge which spanned the creek in a hollow, and Winston glanced up at
the winding ascent thoughtfully.

"It has struck me that going round by this place puts another six miles
on to your journey to the railroad, and a double team could not pull a
big load up," he said.

The lad nodded. "The creek is a condemned nuisance. We have either to
load light when we are hauling grain in, and then pitch half the bags
off at the bott