good. It gives me
room to stretch myself. It sort o' sweeps away a whole heap of fusty
city smells, and gives us something a deal more worth breathing. It's
a man's place. And it's full of man's work. Guess Providence got busy
an' set it all out for us. Providence guessed we'd have to use it.
But Providence didn't just guess how far crazy human nature really was.
She didn't foresee we'd gather around in the musty dump-holes we call
cities. She didn't figure on our tastes for the flesh-pots, and the
indulgence of the senses she'd handed us. But then Providence knows
her power to fix us right when she feels that way." Then he spread out
his arms with an inexpressible suggestion of longing. "Say, I'm
crazy--plumb crazy to get the first peek at that dandy home I've had
fixed for you."

The woman's eyes sought her husband's with a smile that was a caress.

"You're good to me, Jeff," she said. Then she added: "So good." Her
smile deepened. "You'd hand me the world with--with a fence around it,
if I asked. Why? Why are you like that?"

It was the love in her seeking reassurance. Nor was she disappointed.

"Why?" The man laughed. And the sound of it was good to hear. It was
deep, and seemed to come from the depths of his soul. His blue eyes
shone with a world of devotion. "Guess I love you--just that," he
said. Then he pointed at the distant hills. "I can't tell you all I
feel, Elvie," he said, "but get those hills. See them. There, that
peak, sitting right up over its fellows, with a cap of snow on it I
don't guess the sun could ever melt. That's thousands of feet up. I'd
say man's foot was never set there, nor bird's, nor animal's either.
Well, if that peak was a throne it 'ud give you pleasure to occupy,
why, I guess I'd just go the limit to have you sit there."

Elvine was gazing at the mountain crest, but she was not thinking of
it. She was thinking of the love which the extravagant words
expressed, and she was wondering at the bigness of it. She was caught
in its power, and it thrilled her with an even greater appreciation of
her danger. What would be the result upon such a nature as this man's
when--he knew?

"I believe you would," she said, her eyes coming back to the strong,
flushed face. Then she added: "Now."

"Now?"

There was a quick lifting in the man's fair brows. There was
incredulity in his tone. To him it seemed impossible, the implied
doubt in her final word.

"I