active
face.

CHAPTER XIV.

BETTY JO CONSIDERS.

The most careless eye would have seen instantly that the newcomer was
not a native of that backwoods district. She was not a large woman, but
there was, nevertheless, a full, rounded strength, which saved her
trim and rather slender body from appearing small. Neither would a
discriminating observer describe her by that too-common term "pretty."
She was more than that. In her large, gray eyes, there was a look
of frank, straightforward interest that suggested an almost boyish
good-fellowship, while at the same time there was about her a general
air of good breeding; with a calm, self-possessed and businesslike
alertness which, combined with a wholesome dignity, commanded a feeling
of respect and confidence. Her voice was clear and musical, with an
undertone of sympathetic humor. One felt when she spoke that while she
lacked nothing of intelligent understanding and sympathetic interest,
she was quite ready to laugh at you just the same.

When the two stood speechless, she said, looking straight at Brian: "It
seems to me, sir, that the young lady has all the best of the argument.
But I really think she should have some dry clothes as well."

She turned to the dripping and dishevelled Judy: "You poor child. Aren't
you cold! It is rather early in the season for a dip in the river, I
should think. Let me take whatever you have there, and you make for the
house as fast as you can go,--the run will warm you."

As she spoke, she went to the mountain girl, holding out her hand to
take the manuscript, and smiling encouragingly.

But Judy backed away, her stealthy, oblique gaze fixed with watchful
surprise on the fair stranger.

"This here ain't none of your put-in," and her shrill drawling monotone
contrasted strangely with the other's pleasing voice. "Where'd you-all
happen from, anyhow? How'd you-all git here?"

"I came over the bluff by the path," answered the other. "You see, I
left the train from the south at White's Crossing because I knew I could
drive up from there by the river road quicker than I could go by rail
away around through the hills to Thompsonville, and then make the drive
down the river from there. When I reached Elbow Rock, I was in such a
hurry, I took the short cut, while the man with my trunk and things went
by the road over Schoolhouse Hill, you know. I arrived here just as this
gentleman was pulling you from the water."

Before Brian cou