sensitiveness of her
nature, the quick pride and perceptions which he might otherwise have
been long in discovering. Previously she had amused and interested him,
now she awakened in him a real anxiety as to her future.

"Be brave," he said, "and keep on smiling, Essie Tisdale. You must work
out your own salvation as must we all. This will pass and be forgotten;
there will be triumphs with your failures, don't forget that, and the
long years ahead of you which you so dread may hold better things than
you dare dream. In some way that I don't see now I may be able to lend
you a helping hand."

"Your friendship and your sympathy are enough," she said gratefully.

"You have them both," he answered, and on the strength of ten years'
difference in their ages he patted her slim fingers with a quite
paternal hand, in ignorance of the malevolent pair of eyes watching him
from the window at the end of the upper corridor.

XI

THE OPENING WEDGE

It was with mixed feelings that Dr. Harpe saw Van Lennop ride briskly
from the livery stable leading a saddle horse behind his own. It was for
Essie Tisdale, she surmised, and her conjecture was confirmed when she
saw them gallop away.

While the sight galled her it pleased her, too, for it lent color to the
impression she was discreetly but persistently endeavoring to spread in
the community that the open rupture between herself and the girl was of
her making and was necessitated by reasons which she could but did not
care to make public. She made no definite charge, but with a deprecatory
shrug of her shoulder and a casual observation that "it was a pity Essie
Tisdale was making such a fool of herself and allowing a perfect
stranger to make such a fool of her" she was gradually achieving the
result she desired. The newcomers seized upon her insinuations with
avidity, but the old settlers were loath to believe, though upon each,
in the end, it had its effect, for Dr. Harpe was now firmly established
in Crowheart's esteem. She had, she felt sure, safeguarded herself so
far as Essie Tisdale was concerned, yet she was not satisfied, for she
seemed no nearer overcoming Van Lennop's prejudice than the day she had
aroused it. He distinctly avoided her, and she did not believe in
forcing issues. Time, she often averred, would bring nearly every
desired result, and she could wait; but she did not wait patiently,
fretting more and more as the days drifted by without bringing to he