beckoned to
him to come near her.

"I must tell you something," she breathed.

She pointed to a chair near the divan. For a time she talked in an
undertone, telling him something which sent the blood flying from the
young man's face, and left him faint and sick at heart.

And later by an hour, Frederick Graves was walking the railroad tracks
toward the Skinner shanty.

CHAPTER XXXII

HELEN'S MESSAGE

Tessibel Skinner was sitting in the shanty kitchen. She had a book in
her lap but her mind was far from her surroundings. Andy had been quiet
so long she'd almost forgotten him. Suddenly, his slight cough brought
her back to the present.

"Ye look awful peeked, brat, dear," he said. "I think ye'd ought to see
Young's doctor, hadn't ye?"

A vague smile crossed the girl's face, and she shook her head.

"No, Andy," she answered, "I don't need no doctor, yet."

"I wish ye felt better," sighed the dwarf. "An' the days is gettin'
awful blizzardy for ye to go outdoors."

"But I got to go out, dear, fer wood an' other things. Hark!" She got up
swiftly. "There air some one comin'."

In another instant the little man had crawled away from the ceiling hole
and was under the tick. The garret was as silent as the frozen lake and
the kitchen below, where Tess stood in anxious expectation. Tessibel,
knowing it couldn't be Sandy, put aside her first impulse not to heed
the rap. An instant later, she opened the door. That it might be
Frederick was farthest from her mind, until she saw him standing there
so thin and tired. Surprised and shocked at seeing him, the stress of
her feeling found her faint. She would have fallen if he had not
suddenly seized her.

"Tessibel!... Tess, darling!" he cried, sharply. Lifting her up, he
carried her into the room. She clung to him, crying, her confusion
calmed by his caresses. He placed her in a chair and sat down beside
her. Suddenly, she sat back in her seat, roused from her revery by
mocking memories of her wrongs.

"Couldn't ye let me alone?" she breathed hoarsely, covering her face
with her hands. "Ye might a let me be."

"I had to come, dear," Frederick told her. "I want you to do something
for both our sakes.... Oh, Tess, what terrible days have passed since I
saw you last!"

After a short pause, she dropped both hands and glanced up at him. Then
knitting her fingers together, she pressed them hard until they looked
like the veined stems of a pale flower. He had come