sides, the agent may not have got up."

"Then I'll sit on the doorstep. But what is there to talk about? You
don't want your rabbits tortured so that somebody may make thirty cents
apiece. It has got to be stopped, and why not stop it now? Where does
the fellow live?"

Helen told him, and added: "But you can't go like that."

"No; I suppose not," said Festing doubtfully. "It won't make a long
round if I call at Gardiner's. I'll come back later and tell you how
I've fixed things up."

He lifted his badly crushed hat, and when he turned away Helen laughed,
a half-hysterical laugh. His fierce energy had, so to speak, left her
breathless; she was shaken by confused emotions. It was for her sake he
had plunged into the quarrel, but she felt disturbed by his savageness.
For all that, something in her approved, and it was really this that
troubled her. Picking up the basket, she crossed the field with a very
thoughtful look.

CHAPTER X

HELEN DECIDES

Some weeks had passed since Festing went to gather mushrooms when he
sat, one evening, on the terrace in front of Gardiner's house. His brows
were knit and he had in his had a letter from Kerr at the construction
camp. The back of the letter was covered with penciled calculations, but
he presently put it down and looked moodily about.

The larches that sheltered the house had been in full leaf when he came,
but now they were getting bare. One could see the hills through a fine
network of twigs, dotted with minute tassels of gold. The beeches and
oaks looked solid yet, but the former shone warm brown and red against
the others' fading green. Withered leaves fluttered down, and the smell
of a burning heap hung in the damp air.

The touches of brown and gold in the landscape hinted that time was
passing. Winter was already advancing across the wastes of Northern
Canada and the geese and ducks were flying south. Festing heard in fancy
the brant's changing cry that always filled him with unrest, but the
letter in his hand was a clearer call. Kerr had offered him a contract
for hauling a quantity of telegraph posts and logs across the snow,
and his calculations indicated that the work ought to be profitable.
It would keep him occupied all winter; one could buy horses cheap when
harvest was over and sell them advantageously when plowing began in the
spring. Besides, the money he earned would help him to stock his farm
and furnish his homestead well.

He had loitered in