than to call me now."

Sandy was thoughtful a moment. He saw that Treadwell probably was
right there, but a strange sense of protection rose in his heart. He
felt he must protect that distant, strange woman from Lans in his
present mood.

"Then I reckon you better stand off and watch unseen, Lans." Sandy
made a bold stroke: "Are you thinking of her only? I'm mighty sure,
Treadwell, in a case like this you ought not, you--dare not think of
any one but her!"

The bald, rigid reasoning struck Lans Treadwell like the cold draught
from the open window.

"Good God! Sand," he ejaculated, "let me shut that sash down. The cold
gets into your heart as if it were driven by some infernal machine."

Sandy got up and pulled the glass down sharply, but he could not,
thereby, bring comfort to Lans' conscience.

"What do you mean by a case like this, Sand? No case between man and
woman can be separated that way. Her need is my need; mine is hers!"

"Is it?"

"Thunder! Sand, of course it is."

"I--I do not know. Things come so slowly, but I'm trying to learn for
the sake of my people. The women and children, Lans, have got a clutch
on me; they must always come first. Even when we want women happy, we
want to give them happiness; give them the liberty _we_ think is good
for them. Treadwell, I'm mighty sure there are times when we-all
better get out and leave them alone! We only make matters worse. You
do not know these hills as I do--I don't want to preach, heaven knows!
As I talk I am only feeling my own way, not pointing yours; but I know
my hill people, and the women and children tug right hard at my heart.
When love--such love as our mountain men know--takes a woman into a
cabin--it generally shuts God out! I know this, and the children that
come into life by way of our cabins are--well! I was a cabin boy,
Lans! Women need God oftener than we-all do. Love puts a claim on
them that it never does on us-all. Love demands suffering of them;
responsibility that man never knows. Treadwell, we men must never clog
up the trail that leads woman to her God. I know I'm right there! But
tell me, are women and men different, so different in the lowlands and
highlands?"

Treadwell was bent over, his face hidden in his hands. He made no
answer.

"That little woman--down there"--Sandy's eyes were far and away from
the warm, rude comfort of the room which held him and that stricken
figure by the hearth--"is battli