lightness he
did not feel.

"Nothing can be so bad, as--as some things," she said. Her eyes had
become serious again. She was thinking of those two short months ago.

"No," he breathed, with a sigh. "I--I suppose not." Then with a
desperate effort he blurted out his resolve. "I'm going away, too," he
said clumsily.

His announcement cost him more than he knew. But Eve showed not the
least bit of astonishment.

"I knew you would," she said. Then she added, as though following out
a thought which had been hers for a long time, "You see there are some
things nobody can put up with--for long. Barnriff, for instance, when
it turns against you."

Jim nodded. Her understanding delighted him, and he went on more
easily.

"I've one hundred and fifty head of stock, and a thousand odd
dollars," he said deliberately. "I'm going to make a fresh start."

He laughed, and somehow his laugh hurt the woman. She understood.

"Don't laugh like that, Jim," she said gently. "It's--it's not like
you."

"I'm sorry, Eve," he replied in swift contrition. "But--but it's not
much, is it?"

"I seem to fancy it's quite a deal." The girl's face wore a delightful
smile. "Where are you thinking of?"

[Illustration: "We've just come over to say that we, too, are going to
hit the trail."]

"Canada. Edmonton. It's a longish piece off, but it's good land--and
cheap."

"It's British."

"Ye-es."

"It's not under the 'stars and stripes.'"

"Most flags are made of bunting."

The girl nodded her head.

"A monarchy, too," she said.

"Monarchs and presidents are both men."

Jim's love for his flag was a sore point with him, and he gathered
that Eve disapproved. He wanted her approval. He wanted it more than
anything else, because---- Suddenly he remembered something.

"Peter's English," he said slyly.

"God bless him!"

The fervor of the woman's response was unmistakable.

"I must see him to-night before he goes," she went on, "because--I've
got something to tell him."

She looked down at the table on which the dress she had just finished
making was lying.

"That's the last of them," she said, pointing at it.

The man knew what she meant. She had completed her last order.

"I'm going to do no more--here."

Jim's eyes lit.

"Here?"

Eve shook her head.

"I'm going away," she said, with a shamefaced smile. "That's--that's
what I want to tell--Peter."

Jim sprang to his feet, and looked into the bright smiling eyes.