f hot tea would do you a lot of good, too,
after that long ride on Stefan's toboggan. It's no joke of an
undertaking for a--a young lady who isn't used to such things."

Madge was still hesitating. The suffering look that had come into her
eyes moved the young man to greater pity for her.

"I--I give you my word you have absolutely nothing to fear," he
assured her, whereupon she followed him meekly, feeling very faint
now. She half feared that she might have to clutch at his sleeve, if
her footsteps failed her, for she felt that at any moment she might
stagger and fall. She gasped again as she looked at the shack they
were nearing, but, as she beheld the scenery of the great pool,
something in it that was very grand and beautiful appealed to her for
an instant. Yet she felt crushed by it, as if she had been some
infinitesimal insect beside that stupendous crashing of waters, before
the great ledges whose tops were hirsute with gnarled firs and twisted
jack-pines. She stopped for a moment, perhaps owing to her weakness,
or possibly because of awe at the majesty of the scene.

"I just love it," said the man. "It grows more utterly splendid every
time one looks at it. See that mass of rubbish on the top of that
great hemlock. It is the nest of a pair of ospreys. They come every
year, I've been told. Last summer I saw them circling high up in the
heavens, at times, and they would utter shrill cries as if they had
been the guardians of the falls and warned me off. But we had better
hurry in, Miss--Miss Nelson."

For an instant she had listened, wondering. This man did not speak
like a common toiler of city or country. His manner, somewhat distant,
in no way reminded her of the coarse familiarity she had often been
subjected to in shop and factory. But a moment later such thoughts
passed off and she followed him, resentfully, feeling that she was to
some extent forced to submit to his will. As Ennis pulled the door
open and held it for her to walk in, he looked at her keenly. He had
suddenly remembered hearing that exposure to intense cold had
sometimes actually disturbed the brains of people; that it had brought
on some form of insanity. He wondered whether, perhaps, this had been
the case with her? It was with greater concern and sympathy that he
felt he must treat her. The vagaries of her language, the reproaches
she seemed to think he deserved, were doubtless things she was not
responsible for. And then she looked so