I'll take you up there."

At this she seemed to feel somewhat relieved. It was evident that she
was in no great peril. Yet she looked again at his shack, with her
lower lip in the bite of her teeth.

"You--you didn't really believe I'd come," she said, her mouth
quivering. "You--you were just making fun of me, I see, with--with
that residence and--and the ladies who were ready to welcome me. Where
are they?"

Ennis was scratching his head, or the cap over it, as he stared again
at her. He realized that some amazing, terrible mistake must have been
made, as he thought--or that this girl must be the victim of some
dreadful misunderstanding, if not of a foul plot. He began to pity
her. She looked so weak, so helpless, in spite of the anger she had
shown.

"There--there are no ladies," he said, lamely, "except Mrs. Papineau
and Mrs. Carew. They're first-rate women, both of 'em. And of course
Mrs. Papineau is your only resource till to-morrow, unless Stefan is
coming back for you."

"He isn't," she declared. "I said nothing about going back."

"That's awkward," he admitted. "You'll tell me all about this thing
later on, won't you, because I might be able to help you out. But
you'll be all right for a while, anyway. I'll take you there."

"Please start at once," she cried, desperately. "I--I can't stay here
for another instant."

"I can be ready in a very few minutes," he told her, quietly. "But
won't you please come over to the shack. I'm sure you're beginning to
feel the cold. You--you're shivering and--and I'm afraid you look
rather ill."

She had insisted on Stefan's taking back some of the things she had
borrowed from his wife, and had been standing there in rather
inadequate clothing. Ennis pulled off his heavy mackinaw jacket.

"You must put this on at once," he told her, gently enough, "and come
right over there with me."

Madge shrank from him, as if she feared to be touched by him, and yet
there was something in the frank way in which he addressed her,
perhaps also in the clear and unembarrassed look of his eyes, that was
gradually allaying her fears and the fierce repulsion of the first few
moments. Finally, chilled as she was to the very marrow of her bones,
she consented to accept his offer and submitted to his helping her on
with the coat.

"There's a good fire in the shack just now," he told her. "It's
absolutely necessary for you to get thoroughly warmed up before you
start off again. A cup o