ed, Sunbeam shied violently. Looking to one
side, she beheld in the shadow of a mass of scrub-oaks the body of a
horse lying stark and still. Close beside the head was a dark spot in
the snow.

A moment later she had dismounted and was standing within the rickety
hut, looking down upon another shadowy form that moved and spoke.

"Are you hurt?" she asked.

"Not much. I believe I have sprained my ankle. But the poor nag is done
for," he added sorrowfully.

"Which foot have you hurt?"

"The right one."

"That's good. Then you can ride sidesaddle. Are you sure that is all?"

He was already consuming brandy and biscuit at a rate to dissipate all
immediate anxiety.

"Yes; and I declare it's worth it!" he cried with enthusiasm; a
statement which, if slightly ambiguous, conveyed a cheerful impression.

"Did the fall kill the horse?" Amy asked, with a little quiver in her
voice, of pity for the poor beast.

"No; I thought it best to cut an artery for him. Poor boy! He floundered
terribly before he went down."

"What threw him?"

"Something in the way of a branch or a piece of timber. Lucky it
happened where it did," he added. "I couldn't have gone far looking for
shelter."

"Poor old nag!" said Amy. Then, perceiving that she had not been
altogether polite: "Aren't you nearly frozen?" she asked.

"No, it's very snug in here. Some other tramp must have been here before
me, and got these leaves together. There's lots of warmth in them."

By this time Stephen had crawled out from among the oak-leaves and,
having got himself into the doctor's fur-lined coat, stood on one foot,
leaning heavily against the door-frame.

"A splendid night, isn't it?" he remarked in a conversational tone.

Amy, who was just leading Sunbeam up to the doorway, glanced at the
young man, standing there in the bright moonlight,--at his sensitive,
intelligent face, his finely-modelled head and brow,--and somehow she
felt reinstated with herself. She had been fatally wrong in making
choice so lightly, but at least the choice was, in itself, nothing to be
ashamed of! As she helped Stephen in his painful transit to the saddle,
she wondered if she were really a heartless person to take comfort in
such a thought. But, in truth, since she had come to question the
genuineness of her own part in their relation, she had lost faith in
his share as well. There must have been something wrong about it from
the beginning, and certainly, she reasoned, i