be well! What man in all Freeman's Falls
could have envied him if acquainted with all the conditions of his
life?

This and many another such reflection engrossed Ted, causing him to
wonder whether there was not in the divine plan a certain element of
equalization.

In the meantime, his lessons with Laurie and Mr. Hazen went steadily
and delightfully on. How much more could be accomplished with a tutor
who devoted all his time simply to two pupils! And how much greater
pleasure one derived from studying under these intimate circumstances!
In every way the arrangement was ideal. Thus the winter passed with its
balancing factors of work and play. The friendship between the two boys
strengthened daily and in a similar proportion Ted's affection for the
entire Fernald family increased.

It was when the first thaw made its appearance late in March that
trouble came. Laurie was stricken with measles, and because of the
contagion, Ted's little shack near the river was hastily equipped for
occupancy, and the lad was transferred there.

"I can't have two boys sick," declared Mr. Clarence Fernald, "and as
you have not been exposed to the disease there is no sense in our
thrusting you into its midst. Plenty of wood will keep your fireplace
blazing and as the weather is comparatively mild I fancy you can
contrive to be comfortable. We will connect the telephone so you won't
be lonely and so you can talk with Laurie every day. The doctor says he
will soon be well again and after the house has been fumigated you can
come back to Pine Lea."

Accordingly, Ted was once more ensconced in the little hut and how good
it seemed to be again in that familiar haunt only he realized. Before
the first day was over, he felt as if he had never been away. Pine Lea
might boast its conservatories, its sun parlors, its tiled baths, its
luxuries of every sort; they all faded into nothingness beside the
freedom and peace of the tiny shack at the river's margin.

Meanwhile, with the gradual approach of spring, the sun mounted higher
and the great snow drifts settled and began to disappear. Already the
ice in the stream was breaking up and the turbid yellow waters went
rushing along, carrying with them whirling blocks of snow. As the
torrent swept past, it flooded the meadows and piled up against the dam
opposite the factories great frozen, jagged masses of ice which ground
and crashed against one another, so that the sounds could be distinctly
h