emnants on the table with
contempt. "She would do better than this with her eyes shut! Then,"
he continued eagerly, "she can wash and mend clothes. I've noticed
that you and Mr. West throw half your things away long before you need
to."

"That's true," Edgar admitted. "It's the custom of the country; time's
too valuable to spend in mending anything, though I've noticed that one
or two of the people who tell you about the value of time get through a
good deal of it lounging round the Sachem. Anyway, amateur
laundering's an abomination, and I'm most successful in washing the
buttons and wrist-bands off." He turned to his companion. "George,
you'll have to send for Mrs. Grierson."

The matter was promptly arranged, and when Grierson went out with a
look of keen satisfaction, Edgar laughed.

"I feel like pointing out how far an idea can go. Helen only thought
of making me a little more comfortable, and you see the result of
it--Grierson and his wife united, things put into shape here, four
people content! Of course, one could cite a more striking example; I
mean when Sylvia Marston thought you had better go out and look after
her farm. There's no need to mention the far-reaching consequences
that opinion had."

"I volunteered to go out," George corrected him.

"Well," said Edgar, "I quite believe you did so. But you're no doubt
pining to get at the fence."

They went off to work, but Edgar, driving the gang-plow through the
stubble under a scorching sun, thought that Sylvia's idea might bear
more fruit than she had calculated on, and that it would be bitter to
her. His mind, however, was chiefly occupied with a more attractive
person, and once when he turned the heavy horses at the end of the
furrows he said softly, "May I deserve her!" and looked up with a tense
expression in his hot face, as if making some firm resolve, which was a
procedure that would have astonished even those who knew him well.

A week passed, each day growing brighter and hotter, until the glare
flung back by sandy soil and whitening grass became painful, and George
and his assistants discarded most of their clothing when they went
about their tasks. The oats began to show a silvery gleam as they
swayed in the strong light; the wheat was changing color, and there
were warm coppery gleams among the heavy ears; horses and cattle sought
the poplars' shade. Then one evening when the Grants had driven over,
Flett arrived at the homes