te sure I'm in possession of a pair of arms, because they ache
abominably. Besides"--and his gaze was whimsically reproachful--"do
you really think any excuse is needed for coming to see me?"

"In any case, I have one; there is something I want to say. You see, I
have not come across you since the meeting at the settlement."

"I suppose you object to your father taking any share in our crazy
venture?"

A faint flicker of colour crept into Laura's cheek. "You know I
don't," she replied. "It is the one thing I could have wished for him;
indeed, I shall be thankful if he takes a sustaining interest in the
scheme, as he seems disposed to do. It will be of benefit to him in
many ways. He grows moody and discontented at the ranch."

She broke off for a moment, and her voice had changed when she went on
again. "There is one point that troubles me--you provided my father
with the money to take his share in the venture."

"No," explained Nasmyth; "I think I can say that I didn't. I have
merely set apart for him so many acres of swamp and virgin forest. He
will have to earn his title to them by assisting in what we may call
the administration, as well as by physical labour."

Laura looked at Nasmyth with quiet eyes. "Would you or Gordon consider
it a good bargain to part with a single acre for all the advice he can
offer you?" she asked.

Nasmyth sat silent a moment, gravely regarding her. There was a little
more colour in her face, but her composure and her fearless honesty
appealed to him. She was attired very plainly in a print dress, made,
as he knew, by her own fingers. The gown had somehow escaped serious
damage in the scramble down the gully. It harmonized with the
pale-tinted stone, and it seemed to him that its wearer fitted
curiously into her surroundings. He had noticed this often before, and
it had occurred to him that she had acquired something of the strength
and unchangeableness of the wilderness. Perhaps she had, though it is
also possible that the quiet steadfastness had been born in her, and
perfected slowly under stress and strain.

"Well," Nasmyth broke out impulsively, "if it had been you to whom we
made that block over, I could have abdicated with confidence and have
left it all to you."

Laura smiled, and Nasmyth became sensible that his face had grown a
deeper red.

"Whatever made you say that?" she asked.

"I don't quite know." Nasmyth's manner was deprecatory. "After all,
it's hardly fair t