frown over that unwelcome
possibility. He could say to himself that it was only an impression;
that he was a fool to labor under that sense of insecurity. But he
could not help it. Life was like that. No man stood alone. No man
could ever completely achieve mastery of his relations to his
fellows. Until life became extinct, men and women would be swayed and
conditioned by blind human forces, governed by relations casual or
intimate, imposed upon them by the very law of their being. Who was he
to escape?

No, Hollister reflected, he could not insulate himself and Doris
against this environment, against these people. They would have to
take things as they came and be thankful they were no worse.

Doris left the piano. She sat on a low stool beside him, leaned her
brown head against him.

"It won't be so long before I have to go to town, Bob," she said
dreamily. "I hope the winter is open so that the work goes on well.
And sometimes I hope that the snow shuts everything down, so that
you'll be there with me. I'm not very consistent, am I?"

"You suit me," he murmured. "And I'll be there whether the work goes
on or not."

"What an element of the unexpected, the unforeseen, is at work all the
time," she said. "A year ago you and I didn't even know of each
other's existence. I used to sit and wonder what would become of me.
It was horrible sometimes to go about in the dark, existing like a
plant in a cellar, longing for all that a woman longs for if she is a
woman and knows herself. And you were in pretty much the same boat."

"Worse," Hollister muttered, "because I sulked and brooded and raged
against what had overtaken me. Yet if I hadn't reacted so violently,
I should never have come here to hide away from what hurt me. So I
wouldn't have met you. That would almost make one think there is
something in the destiny that you and Lawanne smile at."

"Destiny and chance: two names for the same thing, and that thing
wholly unaccountable, beyond the scope of human foresight," Doris
replied. "Things happen; that's all we can generally say. We don't
know why. Speaking of Lawanne, I wonder if he really does intend to
stay here this winter and write a book?"

"He says so."

"He'll be company for us," she reflected. "He's clever and a little
bit cynical, but I like him. He'll help to keep us from getting bored
with each other."

"Do you think there is any danger of that?" Hollister inquired.

She tweaked his ear playfu