them over both portages myself," she said, laughing.

"Never mind; another journey in the same direction won't hurt you,
because I will do the work," he answered. "I want to borrow your
boat, don't you see? and of course it lessens a little my burden of
indebtedness if you are there too."

"I shall also be useful in getting the boat over the portage,"
laughed Katherine, then ran away to get ready. There was really
nothing to keep her at the store this evening, and so few pleasures
came her way that it would have been foolish to refuse.

"Nellie, I am going to Ochre Lake with Mr. Ferrars. Do you mind?"
she asked, as she hurriedly shed her working frock and clothed
herself anew.

"No, dear, of course I don't. Good-bye! I hope you will have a
pleasant time," said Mrs. Burton, then kissed her sister
affectionately.

Katherine was a little surprised. Mrs. Burton was not given to
over-much demonstration of feeling, and so the kiss was out of the
ordinary. But then the evening was out of the ordinary too. As a
rule she hurried along the portage path, laden with burdens as
heavy as she could carry. To-night she sauntered at a leisurely
pace with no burdens at all; even the cares of the day were thrust
into the background for the moment, and she was genuinely
lighthearted and happy. It was pleasant, too, to sit at ease while
Jervis pulled the boat up river with long, swinging strokes that
never suggested tired arms in even the remotest connection; and if
they did not talk much, it was only because the river and the
sunset seemed suggestive of silence. They had passed the second
portage, and waved a greeting to Mrs. M'Kree, who was sitting at
ease in her garden while Astor lounged beside her. Then Jervis
began to talk about himself, which was unusual, the subject
apparently having but little interest for him in a general way.

"I have been writing to my mother to-day. It seems strange to
think we shall have a post out from here once a month all the
summer," he remarked, rowing slower now, as if he were tired of
violent exercise, and desired to take things easy.

"How glad your mother will be to get the letters!" exclaimed
Katherine, wondering how the poor woman had borne the weary waiting
of the past weeks.

"It has been hard on her, poor little Mother!" he said softly, then
went on with a hardness in his tone that grated on the ears of the
listener: "Few women have had to know greater contrasts in life