g. If I am causing you pain, forgive me, dear heart. I would give
my life to prevent it, but I am powerless. It is right! We cannot avoid
doing it, if we ever would be happy."

He picked up the Girl, and held her crushed in his arms a long time.
Then he set her inside her door and said, "Lay out what you want to take
and I will help you pack, so that you can get some sleep. We must be
ready early in the morning."

When the clothing to be worn was selected, the new trunk packed, and all
arrangements made, the Girl sat in his arms before the fire as he had
held her when she was ill, and then he sent her to bed and went to
the lake shore to fight it out alone. Only God and the stars and the
faithful Belshazzar saw the agony of a strong man in his extremity.

Near dawn he heard the tinkle of the bell and went to receive his
message and order a car for morning. Then he returned to the merciful
darkness of night, and paced the driveway until light came peeping over
the tree tops. He prepared breakfast and an hour later put the Girl on
the train, and stood watching it until the last rift of smoke curled
above the spires of the city.

CHAPTER XX. THE MAN IN THE BACKGROUND

Then the Harvester returned to Medicine Woods to fight his battle alone.
At first the pain seemed unendurable, but work always had been his
panacea, it was his salvation now. He went through the cabin, folding
bedding and storing it in closets, rolling rugs sprinkled with powdered
alum, packing cushions, and taking window seats from the light.

"Our sleeping room and the kitchen will serve for us, Bel," he said. "We
will put all these other things away carefully, so they will be as good
as new when the Girl comes home."

The evening of the second day he was called to the telephone.

"There is a telegram for you," said a voice. "A message from
Philadelphia. It reads: 'Arrived safely. Thank you for making me come.
Dear old people. Will write soon. With love, Ruth.'

"Have you got it?"

"No," lied the Harvester, grinning rapturously. "Repeat it again slowly,
and give me time after each sentence to write it. Now! Go on!"

He carried the message to the back steps and sat reading it again and
again.

"I supposed I'd have to wait at least four days," he said to Ajax as the
bird circled before him. "This is from the Girl, old man, and she is
not forgetting us to begin with, anyway. She is there all safe, she sees
that they need her, they are lovable