ve delicacy
and dignity grew and grew.

The people of The Forge, taking small interest in the Mountain Whites,
for whom they had a contempt, merely relegated Sandy to "Luck with the
Yankee who was dickering about a factory site."

As for Sandy himself he had wandered too near the perilous edge of
things to be very keen as to his present and future. Often he lay with
closed eyes and thought back to Lost Hollow. The actual distance
between him and the only home he had ever known was short but, to a
community that spoke of Sheridan's Ride as if it had occurred but the
day before, and which slunk and shrank from moving out of its shadows,
The Forge was a "right smart way off" and, besides, no one but Martin
knew of the circumstances surrounding Sandy; and Martin, to the best of
his ability, was doing the only thing he could do for his boy. Often
on the long weary tramps in the woods he yearned to get a glimpse of
things, but the rough doctor's warnings and suggestions held him back.

"Mart Morley, keep your clutches off that lad. You've nearly put an
end to him. Give others a try now."

So with a courage and self-denial no one knew or suspected, Martin kept
to the hills and made ready for winter as best he could. He and Molly,
when the mood seized her, gathered wood and piled it carelessly by the
cabin door. It seemed a goodly pile while the days were still warm and
fine, but Martin, with a groan, realized how small the accumulation
really was with the long, black months lying before.

CHAPTER VIII

The warm sun of September brought a faint tinge to Sandy's hollow
cheeks. After Matilda's "There!" the boy had leaned his head back on
the pillow of his couch and closed his eyes. Bob, sleek and
well-conditioned, lay at his feet, starting now and then as he dreamed
of other days rich in kicks and blows, and lean as to platters of
nourishing food.

"Sleeping?" asked Levi, coming on the porch with the mail and
whispering to his sister.

"I shouldn't wonder."

"He looks----" But Matilda shook her head at Levi and cut the words
short. To express an opinion about Sandy's appearance at that moment
would not do--it were best passed over lightly. Levi took a chair,
drew it up close to his sister, and left Sandy and Bob free to compare,
in dreams, the Then and Now of Life.

"It was no use," Markham whispered. "I might just as well have let the
letter go that day he"--Levi nodded toward Sandy--"made his ent