u mean?"

"It's no use going into particulars," he replied, almost contemptuously.
"You wouldn't understand."

Turning on his heel, he resumed his work on the cabin.

Grace did understand. She understood that there was something in the
past life of this man which he did not wish to divulge. She felt that he
had suffered, and she was sorry for him. Again she tried to draw him
out, but skilfully he parried her questions, and appeared to resent
them. Noticing this, she desisted. His past, as far as she was
concerned, at any rate, was and must remain a sealed book.

But Grace did not remain silent for all that. She was too much of a
woman to permit of that. Seeing that she could get nothing from him, she
talked about herself. She chattered about her home in New York, about
her friends, about the things which interested her and the things which
bored her. He listened as he worked, apparently interested, and when she
said that she despised the empty and frivolous amusements of her set and
was ambitious to do something more worthy in life, he nodded
approvingly. When she had told him everything, once more she attempted
to question him in turn, but he relapsed into an obstinate silence.

After a week's continuous toil the cabin was completed. As a finishing
touch, he made some furniture for it--a crude table and two three-legged
stools. When he had put the bed in place the hut was ready for
occupancy. When at last everything was ready, he called out to Grace to
come and inspect her new home.

"You'll be comfortable in here," he said cheerily. "At least there are
no snakes. I can promise you that."

He waited for her to say something, expecting that she would be pleased.

"It's very nice," she said hesitatingly. "Only----"

"Only what?" he demanded in a tone of disappointment.

"It's too bad to have taken so much pains for so short a time," she
said.

He laughed carelessly.

"So short a time?" he echoed. Almost mockingly he asked: "Do you expect
to leave here so soon?"

"As soon as I can--you may depend upon that!" she replied determinedly,
almost ready to cry.

His indifference angered her. She thought it brutal when he knew how
unhappy and miserable she was and how anxious to get back to her family.
At that moment she hated him.

"Ah, that's just it!" he exclaimed, with a gesture of impatience. "As
soon as you can! But you can't! We're prisoners here--in prison just as
securely as though we were behind iron