e bore her
along he spoke to her, encouraging her with gentle words of sympathy
and hope. But her fainting condition left him no reward, and her
half-closed eyes, filled with unshed tears, remained dull and
unresponsive.

* * * * *

No sound broke the stillness in the parlor at the farm. Buck was
leaning against the small centre-table gravely watching the bowed head
of the silently-weeping girl, who was seated upon the rough settle
which lined the wall. Her slight figure was supported by the pillows
which had been set in place by the ministering hands of Mrs. Ransford.

Buck's reception by the farm-wife had been very different on this
occasion. She had met him with his burden some distance down the
trail, whither she had followed her young mistress, whose fleetness
had left her far behind. Her tongue had started to clack at once, but
Buck was in no mood to put up with unnecessary chatter. A peremptory
order had had the astonishing effect of silencing her, and a further
command had set her bustling to help her mistress.

Once immediate needs had been attended to, the man told his story
briefly, and added his interpretation of the scene he had just
witnessed. He further dispatched the old woman to summon the hired man
from his ploughing, and, for once, found ready obedience where he
might well have expected nothing but objection.

Thus it was the man and girl were alone in the parlor. Buck was
waiting for Joan's storm of tears to pass.

The moment came at last, and quite abruptly. Joan stirred; she flung
her head up and dashed the weak tears from her eyes, struggling
bravely for composure. But the moment she spoke her words belied the
resolution, and showed her still in the toils of an overwhelming
despair.

"What can I do?" she cried piteously. "What am I to do? I can see
nothing--nothing but disaster in every direction. It is all a part of
my life; a part of me. I cannot escape it. I have tried to, but--I
cannot. Oh, I feel so helpless--so helpless!"

Buck's eyes shone with love and pity. He was stirred to the depths of
his manhood by her appeal. Here again was that shadow she had spoken
of before, that he had become familiar with. He tried to tell himself
that she was simply unnerved, but he knew her trouble was more than
that. All his love drove him to a longing for a means of comforting
her.

"Forget the things you seen," he said in a low tone. And he felt that
his words we