would call her--but she's clever and capable in all practical things.
She will bear with Gregory when you would turn from him in dismay, and,
when it is necessary, she will not shrink from putting a little judicious
pressure on him in a way you could not have done. It may sound
incomprehensible, but that girl will lead or drive Gregory very much
further than he could have gone with you. She doesn't regard him as
perfection, but she loves him."

Mrs. Hastings paused, and for several minutes there was a tense silence
in the little shadowy room. It had grown almost dark, and the square of
the window glimmered faintly with the dim light flung up by the snow.

Agatha turned slowly in her chair. "Thank you," she said in a low voice.
"You have taken a heavy weight off my mind."

She paused a moment, and then added, "You have been a good friend all
along. It was supreme good fortune that placed me in your hands."

Mrs. Hastings patted her shoulder, and then went out quietly. Agatha lay
still in her chair beside the stove. The fire snapped and crackled
cheerfully, but except for the pleasant sound, there was a restful
quietness. The room was cozily warm, though its occupant could hear a
little icy wind wail about the building. It swept Agatha's thoughts away
to the frozen North, and she realized what it had cost her to keep faith
with Gregory as she pictured a little snow-sheeted schooner hemmed in
among the floes, and two or three worn-out men hauling a sled painfully
over the ridged and furrowed ice. The man who had gone up into that
great desolation had been endued with an almost fantastic sense of
honor, and now he might never even know that she loved him. She admitted
that she had loved him for several months.

CHAPTER XXIII

THROUGH THE SNOW

Next morning, the mail-carrier, who, half-frozen and white all over,
drove up to the homestead out of a haze of falling snow, brought Agatha
a note from Gregory. The note was brief, and Agatha read it with a smile
of half-amused contempt, though she admitted that, considering
everything, he had handled the embarrassing situation gracefully. This
attitude, however, was only what she had expected, and she recognized
that it was characteristic of Hawtrey that he had written releasing her
from her engagement instead of seeking an interview. Gregory, as she
realized now, had always taken the easiest way, and it was evident that
he had not even the courage to face her. She q