rip, and, above all,
unaccompanied by himself, was unheard of and unthinkable.

"Yes, I thought I would take a little trip," she continued. "I've
been working here pretty hard for something over twenty-five years,
and you may say I've never been off the place. A bit of a holiday
shouldn't do me any harm."

"Where do you think of goin'?" he demanded, a sudden suspicion
arising in his mind. "Goin' to visit Jim and Beulah?"

"I think you might at least be fair to Beulah," she retorted. "If you
had read her letter, instead of putting it in the stove, you would
have known better."

"I ain't interested in anythin' Beulah may have to say, and any other
letters that fall into my hands will go in the same direction. And
what's more, she's not goin' to have a visit from any member of this
family at the present time. I'm goin' out West to take up land, and
Allan's goin' with me. It ain't fair or reasonable for you to try to
upset our plans by a notion of this kind."

"It isn't a notion, John, it's a resolve. If you are bound to take up
more land, with more work and more worry, why go ahead, but remember
it's your own undertaking. I helped to make one home in the
wilderness, and one home's enough for me."

"Don't be unreasonable," he answered. "There's a great opportunity
right now to get land for nothin' that in a few years will be worth
as much or more than this here. I'm ready to go through the hardship
and the work for the sake of what it will do for us. We can be
independently rich in five years, if we just stand together."

"Independent of what?" she asked.

"Why, independent of--of everything. Nothin' more to worry about and
plenty laid up for old age. Ain't that worth a sacrifice?"

"John," she said, turning and raising her eyes to his face. "Answer
me a straight question. What was the happiest time in your life?
Wasn't it when we lived in the one-roomed sod shanty, with scarcely a
cent to bless ourselves? We worked hard then, too, but we had time
for long walks together across the prairies--time to sit in the dusk
by the water and plan our lives together. We have done well; we have
land, horses, machinery, money. But have we the happiness we knew
when we had none of these? On the contrary, are you not worried
morning, noon, and night over your work and your property? Don't you
complain about the kind of help the farmers have to hire nowadays,
and the wages they have to pay? And if you get more land won't all
yo