elative,
and consequently they would leave him severely alone from this time on,
and as for the timber cruiser, he knew the bond of blood existing
between the lad and the stern old factor, and with the inevitable
consequences staring him in the face if he raised his hand again toward
Owen, he would not dare arouse the ire of Alexander Gregory for
anything.

CHAPTER XVII.

SEEN THROUGH THE OPEN DOOR.

Owen Dugdale had been more deeply affected by what his friend had said
about the little witch of the fort than even Cuthbert suspected.

Somehow the lonely lad had never conceived of such a possibility as
having a cousin to love, and when he heard of it for the first time he
was staggered by the change this seemed to make in affairs.

Unable to properly ponder over the matter within the tent where Eli
would naturally be wanting to ask ordinary questions that must disturb
his mental scrutiny, he determined to go by himself and spend an hour or
so threshing matters out once and for all.

This hatred for the old factor had become so much a part of his nature
that he was able to only see one side of the case, and for the first
time in his life he found himself beginning to entertain a slight
suspicion that he had purposely blinded his eyes to facts that might
present a different aspect to things.

Memories of his sainted mother arose to haunt him; perhaps the incident
of little Sallie and her conception of her "duty" by her brute of a
father, just because she had promised the mother who was gone to watch
over him, had awakened these thoughts afresh, for Owen, too, had
promised to try and overcome his hard feelings for the old factor,
though as yet without making any progress.

Still, tonight he seemed to be in a more amiable mood than for a long
time.

Before his mind arose the last scene, when he knelt beside his widowed
mother, and heard her whispered prayer that he might grow up to be a
noble man, free from the accursed Gregory spirit that had helped to make
her own life unhappy.

Had he made an earnest effort that way?

Owen felt conscience-stricken when he remembered that he never once
thought of his angel mother without a feeling of bitter animosity toward
the unrelenting parent who had driven her forth when she married against
his will.

And now a new factor had been sprung upon him in the shape of this
cousin!

Who was she and what could she be like?

He knew there had been another daughter,