her to-morrow; that will be soon enough."

"My God, you leave her! With a blizzard coming!"

"I don't think there'll be a blizzard. Or if there is, she can get
along comfortably till her uncle comes."

"Are you ready, Ruth?" Gretzinger asked, impatiently.

"Yes, as soon as I fasten my gloves. Anyway, Lee, you can take her to
Kennard if you want to. It's because you're just obstinate. Besides,
she didn't have to come up here; I told her so; I could have got along
without her--much better, probably, for she's always finding fault;
she came on her own responsibility and so can look out for herself;
and if you're so anxious for fear she'll freeze, why, take her. It
won't make any difference about your ditch that I can see, for you say
you'll very likely lose it, anyway. Now you'll have to excuse us;
we're going. Blow out the light, please, and lock the door, our hands
are full. Give the key to Imo to keep."

Two minutes later Gretzinger's car was gone with a swirl of the
headlights as it circled and with a sudden roar of its exhaust. Lee
extinguished the light and closed the cabin. To him that little house
seemed poignant with tragedy; and he knew, whatever came, his foot
would never be set in it again.

He found Imogene sitting beside her sheet-iron stove, wrapped in a
quilt and coughing.

"I heard your car come after his; I knew it was you," she greeted him.

Lee regarded her closely.

"You're sick," he said. "You ought to be in bed. Ruth stated that you
had a headache and now I discover you in a coughing fit bad enough to
take off your head. Is your throat sore?"

"A little."

"Why in the name of all that's sensible haven't you gone to your
uncle's? I begin to think you're unbalanced."

"I explained my reasons once, Lee." She coughed again, then continued,
"Ruth and I quarrelled Christmas because of actions of hers and aunt
said she must leave the house. That's why you were not asked then. But
she made it up afterward and so I came when she did, for she was
determined to live here where she could be free. I just had to come."

"And now she's leaving you in the face of the worst storm this winter,
the ingrate!" Bryant exclaimed. "To-night's work finishes her with me.
She may go to eternal damnation so far as I'm concerned. I'm done! She
refused, she would have left you here to freeze, she set your life
against her convenience! And after you had sacrificed your comfort and
undergone hardships to save her g