e rich black loam. This was
a matter of regret to her, and, though Mrs. Hastings assured her that
the "boys" would get over it, she was rather shocked to hear that one
of them had shortly afterwards involved himself in difficulties by
creating a disturbance in Winnipeg.

The wheat, however, was growing tall when, at Mrs. Hastings's request,
she drove over with her again to Willow Range. Wyllard was out when
they reached it, and leaving Mrs. Hastings and his housekeeper together
she wandered out into the open air. She went through the birch bluff
and towards the sloo, which had almost dried up now, and it was with a
curious stirring of confused feelings that she remembered what Wyllard
had said to her there. Through them all there ran a regret that she
had not met him four years earlier.

That, however, was a train of thought she did not care to indulge in,
and in order to get rid of it she walked more briskly up a low rise
where the grass was already turning white again, over the crest of it,
and down the side of another hollow. The prairie rolled just there in
wide undulations as the sea does when the swell of a distant gale
under-runs a glassy calm. She had grown fond of the prairie, and its
clear skies and fresh breezes had brought the colour to her cheeks and
given her composure, though there were times when the knowledge that
she was no nearer a decision in regard to Gregory weighed upon her like
a chill depressing shadow. She had seen very little of him, and he had
not been effusive then. What he felt she could not tell, but it had
been a relief to her when he had ridden away again. Then for a while
he faded to an unsubstantial, shadowy figure in the back of her mind.

That afternoon the prairie stretched away before her gleaming in the
sunlight tinder a vast sweep of cloudless blue. She was half-way down
the long slope when a clash and tinkle reached her, and for the first
time she noticed that a cloud of dust hung about the hollow at the foot
of it, where there had been another sloo. It had, however, evidently
dried up weeks ago, and as there were men and horses moving amidst the
dust she supposed that they were cutting prairie hay, which grows
longer in such places than it does upon the levels. She went on
another half-mile, and then sat down some distance off, for she had
already walked further than she had intended. She could now see the
men more clearly, and though it was fiercely hot they wer