, and would always be, no matter how well he lived from
this day on; and that she, now that she had Father John's protection,
was very foolish to care for him, or keep her troth with him, and would
be happier if she could forget what had happened at Cragg's Ridge.

"You're a WOMAN now," he said. "A WOMAN--" he had emphasized that--"and
you don't need me any more."

And she had looked at him, without speaking, as if reading what was
inside him; and then, with a sudden little laugh, she swiftly pulled her
hair down about her shoulders, and repeated the very words she had said
to him a long time ago--"Without you--I'd want to die--Mister--Jolly
Roger," and with that she turned and ran into the cabin, her hair flying
riotously, and he had not seen her again since that moment.

Since then his heart had behaved like a thing with the fever, and it
was beating swiftly now as he looked at his watch and noted the quick
passing of time.

Back in the cabin Peter was sniffing at the crack under Nada's door,
and listening to her movement. For a long time he had heard her, but not
once had she opened the door. And he wondered, after that, why Oosimisk
and her husband and Father John piled evergreens all about, until the
cabin looked like the little jackpine trysting-place down at Cragg's
Ridge, even to the soft carpet of grass on the floor, and flowers
scattered all about.

Hopeless of understanding what it meant, he went outside, and waited in
the warm May-day sun until his master came back through the clearing.
What happened after that puzzled him greatly. When he followed Jolly
Roger into the cabin Mistoos and the Leaf Bud were seated in chairs,
their hands folded, and Father John stood behind a small table on which
lay an open book, and he was looking at his watch when they came in. He
nodded, and smiled, and very clearly Peter saw his master gulp, as if
swallowing something that was in his throat. And the ruddiness had gone
completely out of his smooth-shaven cheeks. It was the first time
Peter had seen his master so clearly afraid, and from his burrow in the
evergreens he growled under his breath, eyeing the open door with sudden
thought of an enemy.

And then Father John was tapping at Nada's door.

He went back to the table and waited, and as the knob of the door turned
very slowly Jolly Roger swallowed again, and took a step toward it. It
opened, and Nada stood there. And Jolly Roger gave a little cry, so low
that Pet