sful in
obtaining help and was overjoyed to come home and find the cattle fed and
everything at the barn in good order. Patsie and her mate were hitched to
the lumber wagon and stood waiting in the lane when John came and Jack was
being wrapped in his warmest cloak.

"Where on earth are you going?" John asked in profound astonishment.

"I told Mr. Noland to hitch up and take me to Uncle Nathan's, but now that
you are here, you can go if you wish," Elizabeth replied quietly. "I
should have gone a long time ago. Will you go along mother, or will you
stay at home after climbing these drifts all day? I think now that you're
at home we'll take the sled instead of the wagon. You won't mind making
the change, will you?"

She ended by addressing the new man, and it was all so naturally done that
John Hunter swallowed whatever was uncomfortable in it. He would not go
himself, and Elizabeth set off with the stranger, glad of the chance to do
so.

"I'll drive right home and help with things there. What time shall I come
back for you?" Noland asked as he set her on the ground as near Nathan's
doorstep as he could get the team to go.

"Not till after five. Mother's there and I'll let her get your suppers,
and I'll get mine here with Uncle Nate."

It was such a perfectly normal arrangement that Hugh Noland did not guess
that there was anything new in it. He drove away with a feeling of
disappointment because he had been unable to draw her into conversation on
the way over. She had proven herself a good conversationalist at meals and
he looked forward to a time when he would be a permanent part of that
household. Luther and Silas had been right. Here was the partner he was
looking for if he could only make himself appreciated.

He had laid out every faculty and put it to the best use for that purpose
and had been a bit disconcerted to have her suddenly become
uncommunicative.

Nathan was at the barn; he saw them stop and recognized his visitor.

"Humph!" he snorted in disgust. However, a man could not leave a woman
with a baby in her arms standing on his doorstep on a raw February day.

"How do you do, Uncle Nate?" the girl said timidly as soon as he was near
enough to accost.

Nathan's greeting was short and inhospitable. He did not offer to shake
hands, nor pretend to see the hand she extended to him. Instead, he opened
the door and invited her gruffly to enter. Closing the door behind them,
he went to the stove and beg