nothing I could do.

"Then I saw something about the movies in a magazine, and pictures of
girls, not much better-looking than me, making lots of money. I borrowed
some money from a drug-store clerk who wanted to keep company with
me--I've paid it back--and I went to New York. I did get a job. But I'm
not a good actress."

She faltered over the rest--a commonplace story of engagements, of
failures, until she found herself touring the West with a wretched
theatrical troupe. "We were booked for a little town off there beyond
your woods, and the train was stalled in a snowstorm. We got on a
stage-coach, but it got stuck in a drift on one of those dreadful roads.
I was freezing cold, and I thought I'd make a short cut through the
woods. The road was running along the edge of a big forest of pines. I
cut off while they were all working to dig out the horses.

"Mr. Snaring said, 'Look out for the bears!' and I laughed and ran up
what looked like a snow-buried trail. There was a hard crust. The woods
were all glittering and so beautiful. I ran into them, laughing. I was
so glad to get away by myself from those people into the woods where it
was so silent and sort of solemn--like being in a church again. I can't
think how I got so lost. I meant to come round back to the road, but
before I knew it, I didn't know which way the road was. The pines were
so dense, so all alike, they looked almost as if they kept sort of
shifting about me. I tried to follow back on my footprints, but in
some places snow had shaken down from the branches. And there were so
many--so dreadfully many other tracks--of animals--" She put her hands
over her face and shrank down in her chair.

"Forget about them, Sylvie," Hugh admonished gently. "Even if there had
been bears about, they wouldn't likely have bothered you any."

"I can't bring myself to tell you about that time--I can't!"

"Don't, then--only, how did you live through the night, my dear?"

"I don't know--except that I never stayed still. I got out from the
trees because I was afraid of bears, and I lost my hat. The sun was like
fire shining up from underneath and down from up above. My eyes began
to hurt almost at once, and by the time night came, it was agony. The
darkness didn't seem to help me any either; the glare still seemed to
come in under my lids. I couldn't sleep for the pain. I knew I'd
freeze if I stood still, so I kept moving all night, trampling round in
circles, I suppos