een necessary to lay hold of him.

"And where is he now?" She was puzzled.

"I put him in an old sheep corral near the place I got him. I 've been
thinking I ought to go and get him to-night. That is, if you are not
afraid to stay alone."

_Why had he not informed her of this before_? Would not any one
naturally have done so? Here she was in this place all on account of
the escape of her horse; and yet he had not told her about this. There
was something strange here. Could it be that he would stoop to deceit!

Janet immediately--what she would not have believed she would
do--brought him to an accounting.

"Mr. Brown," she said sternly, "why did you not tell me of this before?"

"Well, Miss Janet, the point-blank truth is that I thought I would
rather spend the evening here."

He blenched perceptibly as he said it. Janet, seeing him now in a
state of mild propitiation, became suddenly aware of the schoolmistress
tone in which she had made him own up; and as he considered what way to
answer, she was more at a loss than he was.

"And besides," he added, with more assurance, "I intended to go for him
after you had gone to bed and say nothing about it. You might be
afraid if you knew I was not around--though there is n't any danger of
anything. But just now I got to thinking it over and when it came to
the point, I did not like to go away without your knowing it. I
thought I ought to tell you."

"Oh--that was it!"

"You see I did n't have any rope or bridle along when I caught him; so
I just put him in the corral. And I could n't bring him home by the
forelock when I had my arms full of lambs. I caught him just before
noon. If he waited till I got around to him again in the regular
course of herding, he would be pretty bad off for a drink."

This statement of the case decided her at once. As far as her own
needs were concerned, she could not ride the horse without a saddle
even if she dared mount him again, which she would not; but when she
considered the animal's thirst she decided to set her night fears aside.

"No; of course you could not bring him home that way. If you wish to
go for him I can stay here. I am not at all afraid."

"There is n't really anything to be afraid of," he said, rising. He
paused a moment, regarding her seriously. "I _could_ go for him in the
morning before I take the sheep out. But you see I would have to start
so early that it would still be night anyway."

"