a lad who could not, and did not aid her? If he
could but guide the girl, he would know who her companions were.
Tessibel stood in the door, the red curls covering the burden upon her
arm--one would have thought it was purposely done, if she had not placed
it carefully in the corner. She awkwardly seated herself in the chair
Young had placed for her near him.

"I thought you were never coming," said he. "I have been looking for you
for many days."

"I were a comin', but I couldn't.... And I can't go with ye to see
Daddy."

Her eyes filled with tears, but she hastily wiped them away with her
sleeve.

"Of course you are going," replied the professor. "I suppose you think
you can't go in with bare feet. But I will get you a pair of shoes."

"I could get a pair good 'nough for a squatter," Tess assured him, "but
I can't go."

"Why?"

"'Cause I can't! I has somethin' to do."

"Can't you do it after you return? Your father will be so disappointed
if you do not go to him when you have promised."

He was gazing at her keenly. Her eyes dropped upon her folded hands in
her lap.

"I knows that," she breathed, "but I can't go, just the same."

Young did not persist in the argument.

"It is almost a certainty that your father will get another trial," he
went on presently. "I shall act as his lawyer, and, little girl, when
the snow flies again, your father will be home in the cabin with you."

She flashed him a radiant smile through the tears which still clung to
her lashes. He loved to watch the color coming and going swiftly, and
the glints thrown into her eyes by the sun.

"It air the student's God what will bring him." She bent eagerly toward
him, with a quick motion. "Be ye one of the prayin' kind what tells God
all ye needs? Daddy would have been a-hung by the neck till he was dead,
only the student telled me how to pray and he air a-prayin', too."

She finished the sentence in a low tone. Young leaned back in his
chair, grasping at the arms to hide his emotion. The girl was so close
to him that he could feel her warm, swift-coming breath upon his face.
How long would he have to suffer over this primitive child? But he loved
her, and the only course left him was to snatch her from young Graves
while there was opportunity to see her now and then. Her brown eyes were
piercing his very soul. The childish excitement upon the upturned face
almost tempted him to force her into his arms, to awaken the soul
beneath