turned away again, and her attention was
held by those distant hills, where Will Henderson worked.

"I don't know," she said seriously. The light of enthusiasm had died
out of her eyes, leaving them somehow sad and regretful. "You see, I
don't know a man's requirements in such things. A woman has ideas, but
that is chiefly for herself. You see, she has the care of the house
generally."

"Yes, yes; that's it," Jim broke in eagerly. Then he checked himself.
Something in Eve's manner gave him pause. "You see I--I wanted a
woman's ideas. I don't want the house for a man. I----"

He did not finish what he had to say. Somehow words failed him. It was
not that he found it difficult to put what he wanted to say into
words. Something in the girl's manner checked his eagerness and drove
him to silence. He, too, suddenly found himself staring out at the
hills, where--Will worked.

For one fleeting instant Eve turned her gentle eyes upon the face
beside her. She saw the strong features, the steady look of the dark
eyes, the clean-cut profile and determined jaw. She saw, too, that he
was thinking hard, and her woman's instinct came to her aid. She felt
that she must be the first to speak. And on what she said depended
what would follow.

"Why not leave the house until toward the end of the two years? By
that time you will have been able to talk it over with--the right
person."

"That's what I want to do now."

Jim's eagerness leaped again. He thought he saw an opening. His eyes
had in them the question he wanted to ask. All his soul was behind his
words, all his great depth of feeling and love looked out at the
rounded oval of her sweet face. He hungrily took in the beauty of her
hair, her eyes, her cheeks; the sweet richness of her ripe lips, the
chiseled roundness of her beautiful neck. He longed to crush her to
his heart where they sat. He longed to tell her that she and she only
of all women could ever occupy the hut he intended to build; he longed
to pour into her ears his version of the old, old story, and so full
was his great, strong heart, so overwhelming was his lover's madness,
that he believed he could tell that story as it had never been told
before. But the question never reached his lips. The old story was not
for his telling. Nor did he ask himself why. It was as though a power
which was all-mastering forbade him to speak further.

"Have you seen Will to-day?" Eve suddenly inquired, with apparent
irrelevan