o church, rather than suffer
the ignominy of hearing him preach to empty benches.

But that was as it might be; anyhow, if a settler within reach chanced
to be ill, he might be sure he would get a jelly or soup or milk, even
if he had never put a foot inside the little wilderness church. And if
Billy could not take it The Kid or Moore had to, for Ailsa ruled her
little sphere with a rod of iron, and the two troopers had long been
her willing slaves.

But though she had cut herself adrift from the pleasant world of her
girlhood, and won a real satisfaction out of life that would be death
to most women, she had never lost her sympathies with all that went
on in that existence, where

Life treads on life
And heart on heart;
We press too close in church and mart
To keep a dream or grave apart.

And when they came back from their ramble on that joyous morning,
Diana's letter caused a shadow to come over all the sunlight, and a
quick anxious ache to grow up in her heart. After baldly stating the
news of Meryl's engagement her cousin wrote:--

"Was it you, or was it that bearish policeman, who suggested to such a
dreamer as Meryl the desirability of a martyr's crown?... She is far
better suited to love in a cottage and babies, but just because that
is the case and it is easy to obtain, she chooses to break her heart
on some vague altar of sacrifice. I have no patience with these
high-falutin ideas myself, nor with the cottage and babies either, for
the matter of that; but I suppose a few people had to be practical and
selfish and commonplace, to keep the world going round without violent
bumps and jerks. Don't send Meryl congratulations; send her an In
Memoriam card. Believe me, it is better suited to the auspicious
occasion."

Ailsa showed the letter to her husband, feeling that it was the worst
news she had had for many years. "What does it mean, Billy?... What
can have influenced her?... My sweet Meryl! What is it?... What can it
be?... that keeps Major Carew so aloof? It was easy to see how they
attracted each other."

"He is a proud man," her husband said, gravely. "It is not easy for a
proud man with nothing to choose a wife with a large fortune."

"Ah, but there is something more," she cried, "it cannot be only that.
What has kept him so reserved in every particular all these years?"

But Grenville could not help her, and all the afternoon she worried
and fretted in silence.

In the ev