oise
and flung things about in times of distress; but Askatoon always stood
still and fumbled with its collar-buttons, as though to get more air.
When it was poignantly moved, it leaned against the wall of its common
sense, abashed, but vigilant and careful.

That is what it did when Mr. and Mrs. Joel Mazarine arrived at Askatoon
to take possession of Tralee, the ranch which Michael Turley, abandoning
because he had an unavoidable engagement in another world, left to his
next of kin, with a legacy to another kinsman a little farther off.
The next of kin had proved to be Joel Mazarine, from one of those
stern English counties on the borders of Quebec, where ancient tribal
prejudices and religious hatreds give a necessary relief to hard-driven
human nature.

Michael Turley had lived much to himself on his ranch, but that
was because in his latter days he had developed a secret taste for
spirituous liquors which he had no wish to share with others. With the
assistance of a bad cook and a constant spleen caused by resentment
against the intervention of his priest, good Father Roche, he finished
his career with great haste and without either becoming a nuisance
to his neighbours or ruining his property. The property was clear of
mortgage or debt when he set out on his endless journey.

When the prophet-bearded, huge, swarthy-faced Joel Mazarine, with a
beautiful young girl behind him, stepped from the West-bound train
and was greeted by the Mayor, who was one of the executors of Michael
Turley's will, a shiver passed through Askatoon, and for one instant
animation was suspended; for the jungle-looking newcomer, motioning
forward the young girl, said to the Mayor:

"Mayor, this is Mrs. Mazarine. Shake hands with the Mayor, Mrs.
Mazarine."

Mazarine did not speak very loud, but as an animal senses the truth of
a danger far off with an unshakable certainty, the crowd at the station
seemed to know by instinct what he said.

"Hell--that old whale and her!" growled Jonas Billings, the keeper of
the livery-stable.

At Mazarine's words the Young Doctor, a man of rare gifts, individuality
and authority in the place, who had come to the station to see a patient
off to the mountains by this train, drew in his breath sharply, as
though a spirit of repugnance was in his heart. This happened during the
first years of the Young Doctor's career at Askatoon, when he was still
alive with human prejudices, although he had a nature wel