again at once. She
stopped at a telegraph office where the clerk had to consult a large
book before he discovered that messages could be accepted for Carcajou
in the Province of Ontario, and wrote out the few words announcing her
coming. After this she went into other shops, carefully consulting a
small list she had made out. Among other things she bought a pair of
stout boots and a heavy sweater. With these and a very few articles of
underwear, since she could spare so little, she returned to the Grand
Central and purchased the needed ticket, a long thing with many
sections to be gradually torn off on the journey. Berths on sleepers,
she decided, were beyond her means. Cars were warm, as a rule, and as
long as she wasn't frozen and starving she could endure anything. Not
far from the house she lived in there was an express office where a
man agreed to come for her trunk, in a couple of hours.

Then she climbed up to Mrs. MacRae's.

"I'm going to leave you," announced the girl. "I--I have found
something out of town. Of course I'll pay for the whole week."

The woman expressed her regret, which was genuine. Her lodger had
never been troublesome and the small rent she paid helped out a very
poor income mostly derived from washing and scrubbing.

"I hope it's a good job ye've found, child," she said. "D'ye know for
sure what kind o' place ye're goin' to? Are you certain it's all
right?"

"Oh! If it isn't I'll make it so," answered Madge, cryptically, as she
went over to her room. Here, from beneath the poor little iron bed,
she dragged out a small trunk and began her packing. For obvious
reasons this did not take very long. It was a scanty trousseau the
bride was taking with her to the other wilderness. After her clothes
and few other possessions had been locked in, the room looked very
bare and dismal. She sat on the bed, holding a throbbing head that
seemed very hot with hands that were quite cold. After a time the
expressman came and removed the trunk. There was a lot of time to
spare yet and Madge remained seated. Thoughts by the thousand crowded
into her brain--the gist of them was that the world was a terribly
harsh and perilous place.

"I--I can't stay here any longer!" she suddenly decided, "or I'll get
too scared to go. I--I must start now! I'll wait in the station."

So she bade Mrs. MacRae good-by, after handing her a dollar and a
half, and received a tearful blessing. Then, carrying out a small
handba