mother's death. Then my father was badly hurt in an accident with a
team, and I came back. He has nobody else to look after him, and he is
getting on in life."

Her words conveyed no hint of the stern struggle between duty and
inclination, but George guessed it. This girl, he thought, was one not
to give up lightly the career she had chosen.

Then she changed the subject with a smile.

"I suspect that my father approves of you, perhaps because of what you
are doing with the land. I think I may say that if you have any little
difficulty, or are short of any implements that would be useful, you
need only come across to us."

"Thank you," George responded quietly.

"Mr. West mentioned that you were on a farm in this country once
before. Why did you give it up?"

"Somebody left me a little money."

"Then what brought you back?"

She was rather direct, but that is not unusual in the West, and George
was mildly flattered by the interest she displayed.

"It's a little difficult to answer. For one thing, I was beginning to
feel that I was taking life too easily in England, It's a habit that
grows on one."

He had no desire to conceal the fact that he had come out on Sylvia's
behalf--it never occurred to him to mention it. He was trying to
analyze the feelings which had rendered the sacrifice he made in
leaving home a little easier.

"I don't think the dread of acquiring that habit is common among your
people," Flora said mischievously. "It doesn't sound like a very
convincing reason."

"No," replied George, with a smile. "Still, it had some weight. You
see, it isn't difficult to get lazy and slack, and I'd done nothing
except a little fishing and shooting for several years. I didn't want
to sink into a mere lounger about country houses and clubs. It's
pleasant, but too much of it is apt to unfit one for anything else."

"You believe it's safer, for example, to haul stovewood home through
the Canadian frost or drive a plow under the scorching sun?"

"Yes; I think I feel something of the kind."

Flora somewhat astonished him by her scornful laugh.

"You're wise," she said. "We have had sportsmen here from your
country, and I've a vivid memory of one or two. One could see by their
coarse faces that they ate and drank too much; and they seemed
determined to avoid discomfort at any cost. I suppose they could
shoot, but they could neither strip a gun nor carry it on a long day's
march. The last