said regretfully; for
the pleasant, kindly man whom she had feared so greatly at first
had been such a good neighbour that his absence would be keenly
felt.

"I should not like it if I were not missed; but I am not going for
long, remember. With the opening of the waters I shall be back
again, to settle for good, I hope. England is a fine country to be
born in, but Canada is the land of my choice, and I have never yet
seen a part of it that I like better than these Keewatin wilds; it
is unspoiled nature here," Mr. Selincourt said, rubbing his hands
with great enthusiasm.

"Wait until you have tried a winter here, before speaking too
positively about it; you may find the isolation too dreadful to be
borne. We who are used to it do not mind so much, but a person
accustomed to daily papers and frequent posts would seem entirely
out of the world," she said, thinking of the long, long nights,
when the wolves howled in the woods, and the silent weeks when the
falls were frozen; and she wondered how this man, who had been
brought up in cities, could bear to think of such a life.

He laughed in a cheery, unconvinced fashion. "I have thought of
all that: but I can live without daily papers, or letters either,
if need be; although, if Roaring Water Portage develops as I
believe it is going to do, without doubt we shall get a regular
postal service of a sort. If it can't be done any other way, I
will do it myself. Only I must have a bigger house, for in winter
we should be very much cramped in that little hut over the river."

Katherine nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, you would want a big room for
giving parties and entertainments. Mary would make a lovely
hostess, and the fisher folk would feel as if they were living in a
new world. Oily Dave's dreadful whisky would have no chance at all
against the attractions offered by your big house."

Mr. Selincourt frowned. "That drink-selling of his is the thorn
among my roses of content, and I don't see how to put it down just
at present. I can't, from sheer decency, send the man packing,
just after he has helped to save my daughter from a dreadful death.
Of course I know that he only helped, and that you could and would
have done it without him if he had not been there, still, he was
there, and I must remember it in his favour, although he has
charged pretty heavily for his services."

"That is my fault, I fear," Katherine said in laughing apology.
"But I know what Oily D