eappeared, and within a few hours of the accident it became
plain that, although he was in no danger, they would be detained at
least ten days, perhaps a fortnight, at Lake Louise. Elizabeth sat down
in deep despondency to write to her mother, and then lingered awhile
with the letter before her, her head in her hands, pondering with
emotion what she and Philip owed to George Anderson, who had, it seemed,
arrived by a night train, and walked up to the hotel, in the very nick
of time. As to the accident itself, no doubt the guide, a fine swimmer
and _coureur de bois_, would have been sufficient, unaided, to save her
brother. But after all, it was Anderson's strong arms that had drawn
him from the icy depths of the lake, and carried him to safety! And
since? Never had telephone and railway, and general knowledge of the
resources at command, been worked more skilfully than by him, and the
kind people of the hotel. "Don't be the least anxious"--she had written
to her mother--"we have a capital doctor--all the chemist's stuff we
want--and we could have a nurse at any moment. Mr. Anderson has only to
order one up from the camp hospital in the pass. But for the present,
Simpson and I are enough for the nursing."

She heard voices in the next room; a faint question from Philip,
Anderson replying. What an influence this man of strong character had
already obtained over her wilful, self-indulgent brother! She saw the
signs of it in many directions; and she was passionately grateful for
it. Her thoughts went wandering back over the past three weeks--over the
whole gradual unveiling of Anderson's personality. She recalled her
first impressions of him the day of the "sink-hole." An ordinary,
strong, capable, ambitious young man, full of practical interests, with
brusque manners, and a visible lack of some of the outer wrappings to
which she was accustomed--it was so that she had first envisaged him.
Then at Winnipeg--through Mariette and others--she had seen him as
other men saw him, his seniors and contemporaries, the men engaged with
him in the making of this vast country. She had appreciated his
character in what might be hereafter, apparently, its public aspects;
the character of one for whom the world surrounding him was eagerly
prophesying a future and a career. His profound loyalty to Canada, and
to certain unspoken ideals behind, which were really the source of the
loyalty; the atmosphere at once democratic and imperial in whi