olette, put kettle on for bile
water qvick. Tak' dis seat, lady. I pull off dem blanket. You no need
dem more. Turriple cole now. Las' night we 'ear de wolfs 'untin' along
dem 'ardwood ridges, back of de river; it ees always sign of big cole.
And de river she crack awful, and de trees dey split like guns shoot.
Glad you come an' get varm, Mees."

Madge looked about her, after she had smiled at the woman in thanks.
For the second time that day she had entered a home of kindly and
well-disposed people that seemed to be built of an altogether
different clay from that which composed the folk of the big city. In
Stefan's home the atmosphere had been gentle, one of earnest, quiet
toil, with the simple accompaniment of a kindly religious belief
according to the Lutheran persuasion. In the dwelling she had now
entered, of fervent French Canadians, she noted the vivid chromo of a
departed pope facing the still gaudier representation of the British
Royal family, if the printed legend could be believed. They were shown
in all the colors of the rainbow, as were also some saints whose
glaring portraits hung on either side of the door, surmounted by dried
palms reminiscent of Easter festivals. There seemed to be any number
of children, from an infant lying in a homemade cradle of boards, one
of which displayed an advertisement of soap, to a bashful youth who
looked at Hugo as if he worshipped him and a freckled, gawky and
friendly-faced girl of fifteen who stood around, evidently delighted
to see people and anxious to be civil to them.

And this welcome she had received seemed to be characteristic of all
these folks living in the back of beyond. Everywhere she had met
friendliness; people had seemed actually eager to help; they smiled as
if life had been a thing of joy in which the good things must be
distributed far and near and enjoyed by all. They seemed ready to
share their possessions with strangers that chanced within their
gates. It was a spirit intensely restful, consoling, bringing peace to
one's heart. It gave the girl a brief vision of something that was
heavenly. She felt that she could so easily have made her home in this
amazing region that opened its arms and actually welcomed new faces.
But the thought came to her that she had only been vouchsafed a
fleeting glance at it and to gaze, as Moses did of old, upon a
Promised Land she could never really enter.

"It is no need for to h'ask, Monsieur Hugo," Madge heard the