"I'll do it if you'll let me. But can you go
back with me, Doctor?"

"To the Candace Farm?"

"Yes, sir. A man has been seriously hurt and there was nobody else to
come."

"Wonder you got here without having a fall," said Dr. Pevy.

"She is sharpened. And she is a dear!" gasped Betty. "But I hope you can
start right away. Hunchie is suffering so."

"Can't use the road-bug, that's sure," said Dr. Pevy, glancing again at
the car. "That's why I was doctoring her now while the snow is too deep.
But I still have old Standby and the sleigh. I'll start back with you in a
few minutes and we'll lead the mare. The exercise will do her good. My!
What a handsome creature she is."

"Yes, sir. She is quite wonderful," said Betty; and while they gave Ida
Bellethorne the attention she needed Betty told the doctor all about
Hunchie and her ride through the forest. When Dr. Pevy heard about the
broken wires in the road, he went to the house and telephoned to the
Cliffdale power house to tell them where the break was. The linemen were
already searching for it.

"That peril will be averted immediately," he said coming back with his
overalls removed, a coat over his arm and carrying his case in his other
hand. "That's it, my dear. Walk her up and down. Such a beauty!"

He got out his light sleigh and then led Standby, a big, red-roan horse,
out on the floor to harness him.

"These automobiles are all right when the snow doesn't fly," Dr. Pevy
remarked. "But up here in the hills we have so much snow that one has to
keep a horse anyway or else give up business during the winter. You were a
plucky girl to come so far on that mare, my dear. A Washington girl, you
say?"

"We just came from Washington," Betty explained. "But I can't really claim
to belong there. I--I'm sort of homeless, I guess. I do just love these
mountains and this air."

"This air," commented Dr. Pevy, "smells just now of a storm. And I think
it may drizzle again. Now, if you are ready, my dear."

He unbuckled Ida Bellethorne's bridle rein and made it a leading rein. He
helped Betty into the sleigh and gave her the rein to hold. The mare led
easily, and merely snorted when Standby leaned into the collar and started
the sleigh.

The roan was heavy footed, and his shoes, too, were calked. They started
off from the village at a good jog with the blanketed black mare trotting
easily behind the sleigh.

Betty tried to mould her velvet hat into shape. It had been