ig." He paused a moment, awkwardly. "My name's Ben
Westerveld."

"Pleased to meet you," said Bella, twiddling her fingers in assumed
shyness.

"Which way was you going? There's a dog down at Tietjens that's enough
to scare anybody. He looks like a pony, he's so big."

"I forgot something at the school this afternoon, and I was walking over
to get it." Which was a lie. "I hope it won't get dark before I get
there. You were going the other way, weren't you?"

"Oh, I wasn't going no place in particular. I'll be pleased to keep you
company down to the school and back." He was surprised at his own sudden
masterfulness.

They set off together, chatting as freely as if they had known one
another for years. Ben had been on his way to the Byers farm, as usual.
The Byers farm and Emma Byers passed out of his mind as completely as if
they had been whisked away on a magic rug.

* * * * *

Bella Huckins had never meant to marry him. She hated farm life. She was
contemptuous of farmer folk. She loathed cooking and drudgery. The
Huckinses lived above the saloon in Commercial and Mrs. Huckins was
always boiling ham and tongue and cooking pig's feet and shredding
cabbage for slaw, all these edibles being destined for the free-lunch
counter downstairs. Bella had early made up her mind that there should
be no boiling and stewing and frying in her life. Whenever she could
find an excuse, she loitered about the saloon. There she found life and
talk and colour. Old Red Front Huckins used to chase her away, but she
always turned up again, somehow, with a dish for the lunch counter or
with an armful of clean towels.

Ben Westerveld never said clearly to himself: "I want to marry Bella."
He never dared meet the thought. He intended honestly to marry Emma
Byers. But this thing was too strong for him. As for Bella, she laughed
at him, but she was scared, too. They both fought the thing, she
selfishly, he unselfishly, for the Byers girl, with her clear, calm eyes
and her dependable ways, was heavy on his heart. Ben's appeal for Bella
was merely that of the magnetic male. She never once thought of his
finer qualities. Her appeal for him was that of the frail and alluring
woman. But in the end they married. The neighbourhood was rocked with
surprise. In fact, the only unsurprised party to the transaction was the
dame known as Nature. She has a way of playing these tricks on men and
women for the furtherance o