wanted Nora to finish.

"What if it is the others who reap the harvest? Don't you really believe
that those who break the ground are rewarded in a way that the later
comers never dream of? I do."

"She's right there," broke in Marsh. "I shall never forget, Mrs. Sharp,
what I felt when I saw my first crop spring up--the thought that never
since the world began had wheat grown on that little bit of ground
before. Oh, it was wonderful! I wouldn't go back to England now, to
live, for anything in the world. I couldn't breathe."

"You're a man. You have the best of it, and all the credit."

"Not with everyone," said Nora. She fell on her knees beside the elder
woman's chair and stroked her work-roughened old hand.

"The outsiders don't know. You mustn't blame them, how could they? It's
only those who've lived on the prairie who _could_ know that the chief
burden of the hardships of opening up a new country falls upon the
women. But the men who are the husbands, they know, and in their hearts
they give us all credit."

"I guess they do, Mrs. Sharp," said Marsh earnestly.

Mrs. Sharp smiled gratefully on Nora through her tears.

"Thank you for speaking so kindly to me, my dear. I know that you are
right in every blessed thing you've said. You must excuse me for being a
bit downhearted for the moment. The fact is, I'm that nervous that I
hardly know _what_ I'm saying. But you've done me no end of good."

"That's right." Nora got slowly to her feet. "Sid and Frank will be here
in a minute or two, I am sure."

"And you're perfectly right, both of you," Mrs. Sharp repeated. "I
couldn't go back and live in England again. If we lose our crop, well,
we must hang on some way till next year. We shan't starve, exactly. A
person's got to take the rough with the smooth; and take it by and
large, it's a good country."

"Ah, now you're talking more like yourself, the self that used to cheer
me up when----"

Turning, she saw her husband standing in the doorway.

"Frank!"

He was looking at her with quite a new expression. How long had he been
there? Had he heard all she had been saying to Mrs. Sharp, carried away
by the emotion aroused by the secret conflict within her own heart? She
both hoped and feared that he had.

"Where's Sid?" said Mrs. Sharp, starting to her feet.

"Why, he's up at your place. Hulloa, Ed. Saw you coming along in the rig
earlier in the morning. But I was surprised to find Reg here. Didn't
recognize