h, she was riding presently along
the bank of a roaring stream; beyond her was a small meadow of a
brilliant green, and at the far edge of it a log cabin, with friendly
smoke curling from the chimney.

But she was surprised and disappointed. She had expected, on reaching
Murray's, to see the stark head of Thunder Mountain towering above it,
near and sheer. It was nowhere visible; not even the silvery peaks,
its neighbors, were to be seen; there were only forests heaped on
forests to the sky line. The trail, then, must be longer than she
thought; and she seemed to be no closer to him than when she had
studied the bald head of the mountain through the clouds.

She was welcomed by Mrs. Murray with cordiality, but in some surprise.
A stout and jovial person, whose spirits appeared not to have been
lowered in the least degree by the loneliness of her surroundings,
Mrs. Murray was a helpful hostess to Marion, who was now in a state of
deep dejection. A little boy and his smaller sister, both very dirty
but rugged and red-cheeked, played in the open space before the cabin.
The week's washing was on the line, and from behind it, at the sound
of a horse's hoof beats, came Mrs. Murray, staring in amazement.
Wonders on wonders in that solitude, where nothing ever happened!
First a runaway horse of unheard-of color, saddled and bridled,
dashing past the cabin, and almost trampling the children at their
play; then Philip Haig, with his set face and burning eyes, making
inquiries, and asking for a bite to eat; and then----

"Well! If it ain't Miss Gaylord!" cried Mrs. Murray, as she rushed to
greet her. "What in the world----"

She paused on that, recalling suddenly what she had heard at
Thompson's of Marion's nursing Haig back to life, and intuitively
associating her appearance there with his. Marion saw the thought
reflected in the woman's honest face, and knew that after all the
happenings of the summer, and the gossip that had followed, her better
course was to be frank with Mrs. Murray from the start. Besides she
could not wait to ask her questions by any indirection.

"Have you seen him?" she demanded eagerly.

"Yes, he was here--about noontime. The look on his face!"

She threw up her hands in a gesture that indicated the abandonment of
all hope for such a man.

"And Sunnysides?"

"Long before him. The critter almost run over my two babies, playin'
there before the door. Poor dears, scared almost out o' their skins!