nd peaceful vista
of forest and lake, with the Babine Range lying purple beyond. She
wondered if Roaring Bill Wagstaff would ever, under any circumstances,
have looked on her with the scornful, angry distrust that Barrow had
once betrayed. And she could not conceive of Bill Wagstaff ever being
humble or penitent for anything he had done. Barrow's attitude was
that of a little boy who had broken some plaything in a fit of anger
and was now woefully trying to put the pieces together again. It
amused her. Indeed, it afforded her a distinctly un-Christian
satisfaction, since she was not by nature of a meek or forgiving
spirit. He had made her suffer; it was but fitting that he should know
a pang or two himself.

Hazel visited with the three of them in the hotel parlor for a matter
of two hours, went to luncheon with them, and at luncheon Loraine Marsh
brought up the subject of her coming home to Granville with them. The
Bush incident was discussed and dismissed. On the question of
returning, Hazel was noncommittal. The idea appealed strongly to her.
Granville was home. She had grown up there. There were a multitude of
old ties, associations, friends to draw her back. But whether her home
town would seem the same, whether she would feel the same toward the
friends who had held aloof in the time when she needed a friend the
most, even if they came flocking back to her, was a question that she
thought of if she did not put it in so many words. On the other hand,
she knew too well the drear loneliness that would close upon her in
Vancouver when the Marshes left.

"Of course you'll come! We won't hear of leaving you behind. So you
can consider that settled." Loraine Marsh declared at last. "We're
going day after to-morrow. So is Mr. Barrow."

Jack walked with her out to the Ladysmith, and, among other things,
told her how he happened to be in the coast city.

"I've been doing pretty well lately," he said. "I came out here on a
deal that involved about fifty thousand dollars. I closed it up just
this morning--and the commission would just about buy us that little
house we had planned once. Won't you let bygones be bygones, Hazie?"

"It might be possible, Jack," she answered slowly, "if it were not for
the fact that you took the most effective means a man could have taken
to kill every atom of affection I had for you. I don't feel bitter any
more--I simply don't feel at all."

"But you will," he said e