did a promised clearing of the sky so mock a man. He mended the
fire, for, in his enraptured gazing, he had neglected it. He got up and
looked out, to see a glimmer of the threatening moon and a star peeping
from a nest of glinted cloud-wool. He returned and knelt near the
fire-pan.

"Is it clearing away?" she asked.

"It's going to pour down."

"But it is getting lighter."

"I know, but another cloud is coming."

"I may get home before the new rain falls."

"No, I hear it in the woods off yonder."

"If I run I may get to a house where some one lives."

"The rain will catch you. A wind is behind it."

"I don't hear the wind."

"It is a low wind, but it will soon be high."

"The smoke hurts my eyes. You have put on too much wood at once."

"And we must stay till it burns out to keep the house from catching
fire."

"Oh, the moon is out. I must go now."

"I will go with you."

"Take me to the straight road, and then I will go alone."

He took the pan between two sticks, and threw it far out upon the wet
grass. A flock of sheep pattered by. "Sheep always run past a haunted
house," he said, leading her to the road.

"Is this place haunted?" she asked, looking back.

"Yes, by a young man who drowned himself in the lake."

"Why did he drown himself?"

"On account of a young woman who lived here."

She laughed at the cowboy's impromptu lie. "He was foolish to drown
himself. Let us walk fast now. Mrs. Goodwin will be much afraid for me.
Can you not walk faster?"

When they reached the corners, where a broad road crossed their path,
she turned to him and said: "I know where I am now. This is my road, and
I am not far. I thank you ever so much, and I bid you good-night." She
fled swiftly down the road, and he stood there long after she had faded
from sight.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE GOSSIPERS.

The low place where Milford hoed the young corn was not far from Mrs.
Stuvic's, and more than once during the forenoon he went to the top of
the rise and looked toward the house. He saw George out in the road,
teaching his wife to ride a wheel, saw the Dutch girl driving the
turkeys out of the garden, heard the old woman shout for the pony-cart
to take her to the town of Waukegan, but saw nothing of the young woman
who had filled his sleep with dreams. He returned to his work, chopping
the stubborn clods, the heat growing fiercer with the approach of noon,
the wet land steaming. Of a sudden, he cursed his