ing at her, were they
not all wondering, did they not all despise her, her who by birth and
breeding should be above them? Her lips tightened at the thought--she
who was above them--now--now--they to be above her--poor-born and
common as they were--if--if--he betrayed her.

He handed her quietly--reverently even, into the buggy, and the
trotters whirled her away; but not before she thought she saw the
mill girls peeping at her through the windows, and nodding their
heads at each other, and some of them smiling disdainfully. And yet
when she looked closely there was no one at the windows.

The wind blew cool. Travis glanced at her dress, her poorly protected
shoulders.

"I am afraid you will be too cold after coming from a warm mill and
going with the speed we go."

He reached under the seat and drew out a light overcoat. He threw it
gently over her shoulders, driving, in his masterful way, with the
reins in one hand.

He did not speak again until he reached Millwood.

The gate was down, bits of strewn paper, straw and all the debris of
things having been moved, were there. The house was dark and empty,
and Helen uttered a surprised cry:

"Why, what does all this mean? Oh, has anything happened to them?"

She clung in pallor to Travis's arm.

"Be calm," he said, "I will explain. They are all safe. They have
moved. Let us go in, a moment."

He drew the mares under a shed and hitched them, throwing blankets
over them and unchecking their heads. Then he lifted her out. How
strong he was, and how like a limp lily she felt in the grasp of his
hands.

The moon flashed out now and then from clouds scurrying fast, adding
a ghostliness to the fading light, in which the deserted house stood
out amid shadowy trees and weeds tall and dried. The rotten steps and
balcony, even the broken bottles and pieces of crockery shone bright
in the fading light. Tears started to her eyes:

"Nothing is here--nothing!"

Travis caught her hand in the dark and she clung to him. A hound
stepped out from under the steps and licked her other hand. She
jumped and gave a little shriek. Then, when she understood, she
stroked the poor thing's head, its eyes staring hungrily in the dim
light.

She followed Travis up the steps. Within, he struck a match, and she
saw the emptiness of it all--the broken plastering and the paper torn
off in spots, a dirty, littered floor, and an old sofa and a few
other things left, too worthless to be moved