d Ethel, who had got out a bit of crochet-work. Then, with
a sidewise glance at his wife, he remarked thoughtfully:

"I'm afraid I'll have to get rid of Bill. A Canuck swamper named Leduc
complained to me that the boss slipped up on him and knocked him
insensible with a club. I can't stand for that--not even from Bill."

At the mention of the foreman's name the girl looked up quickly.

"He _didn't_ hit him with a club! He hit him with his fist! And there
_was_ a reason----" The girl stopped abruptly, and a wave of crimson
suffused her face. She could have bitten her tongue off for speaking--for
defending this man.

"How do _you_ know?" asked her uncle in surprise.

"I saw him do it," she replied; realizing that, having gone so far, she
must answer.

"Why did he strike him?" persisted Appleton.

"You might ask _him_ that," she said and, with a defiant toss of her
head, quitted the room and closed the door behind her.

The Sheridans had been taken into confidence, and when the four found
themselves alone they smiled knowingly.

As the days slipped into the second week of their stay, the carcasses
of many deer hung from poles in the clearing, and the outside walls of
the log building were adorned with the skins of numerous wolves and
bobcats.

Hardly a day passed but some one, by word or look, or covert sneer,
expressed disapproval of the boss; and Ethel, entirely ignorant of the
fact that these expressions of disapproval were made only in her
presence, and for her special benefit, was conscious of a feeling of
great pity for the lonely man.

The indescribable restlessness of a great longing took possession of
her; she found herself, time and again, watching from the window, and
from places of concealment behind the trunks of trees, while the big
foreman went stolidly about his work.

The fact that she should hate Bill Carmody was logical and proper; but
she bitterly resented the distrust and criticism of the others. She
wished now with all her heart that she had not confided in her aunt,
and a dozen times she caught herself on the point of rushing to his
defense.

Not since that morning on the skidway had the two met. Bill deviated
not one whit from the regular routine of his duties, and the girl
purposely avoided him.

She hated him. Over and over again she told herself that she hated and
despised him, and yet, on two or three occasions when she knew he had
gone to the farthest reaches of the cutting, s