ard he worked to avoid owning up to others, would
acknowledge to himself that he was in the wrong. Hugh's white face grew
whiter each day and accused him enough without further words. To escape
it, John worked busily, and there was need of work, for the rapidly drying
fields required his entire attention during the day, and he left Hugh to
his wife's care, glad to do so.

There were times, however, when John was alone with Hugh, and at such
times, because he was full of self-blame and humiliation, he listened to
what Hugh said with a peculiar attention. Hugh saw that John worried
himself half sick over his misfortune, and reached out the hand of love
and fellowship for which John hungered at this time. He talked of his
possible death as if it were but a journey, which always convulsed John's
face with child-like emotions. He talked of the farm work, and kept close
track of what was done. He knew that John had had to go into debt for the
team, and he wanted John to tell him, without being asked, that a note had
been given. When he did not, Hugh passed the matter over without reference
and with a sigh. Hugh Noland was not criticising John Hunter or any of his
actions these days, but Hugh studied John and found his weaknesses, and
tried to give him such help as he thought possible. Hugh had long days to
think, and he began to yearn over this man to whom he had been a sort of
traitor. He saw John's wilfulness with Elizabeth--heard many things
without being able to avoid hearing them, being pinned to his bed--he saw
where John's irritability lost good help during the busy season and left
double duty for faithful Jake, his supercilious attitude toward Luther,
and his illy concealed contempt for the farmers about them, and one of his
ways of keeping his mind off John's wife was to keep it on John and John's
needs. Hugh kept Luther with him whenever Luther could be spared from his
home in the evenings, and he spoke to John of Luther with growing
affection. When he grew stronger, he discussed farm work and farmers with
John in a way that savoured of interest in their problems; he asked Nathan
and Silas and Carter and Bob Warren in and talked to them of fertilizers
and drainage, and when John insisted that those things were in the future,
he said:

"Yes, but they will come up in our time; you see I come from a place where
those things were already a necessity to the farmers. I am a farmer myself
now and I think about those things