re not so terribly
interested in Phil as all that,--are you?"

She roused herself.

"Me? Oh dear no! Not any more than I am in Sol Hanson, in Mr. Todd,
in--in Jim Langford," she bantered. "Why should I? I know him only in
the most casual of casual ways."

"Have you seen him since he was invited here?" Jim asked bluntly.

"Ye-yes!--just for a moment in the smithy the day he took sick. I
thought,--oh Jim!--I thought possibly he might have misunderstood
something--something that happened there at that time,--but--ah
well!--anyway, it doesn't matter now.

"He does not say very much at any time, does he, Jim? He's a queer
fellow."

"Ay!" said Jim drily, "and you're a queer little fellow yourself,
Eileen,--eh!"

"Do you know anything of him before he came to Vernock?" she inquired
suddenly, with a change of tone.

"Practically nothing! He has kept that a sealed book, and it is none
of my affairs; but I do know that since he came here he has been the
real stuff, and that is good enough for Jim Langford."

She smiled.

"Oh you men! You stand by your pals to the very last ditch; while a
woman will desert her woman friend at the first one.

"Never mind! Let us forget Mr. Ralston meantime.

"Did you hear the news, Jim?--the great news! Daddy,--my own daddy has
been offered the portfolio of Minister of Agriculture on the new
Cabinet. He will be the Honourable John Royce Pederstone. And this his
first session in Parliament too! Isn't it great?"

"Je--hosephat!" Jim jumped up. "And I never heard a thing."

"I don't wonder at that, Jim. Dad only got the wire an hour ago making
the definite offer."

"By jingo!--I must go and give him my congratulations. Here's the
Mayor looking for you, Eileen. I'll leave you to him. I must find your
dad."

And while the reception at John Royce Pederstone's was at its height,
Phil Ralston was trudging the hills alone, coming over the ranges from
Lumby, a village which lay several miles distant, where he had gone by
stage direct from the smithy. He walked in the melancholy enjoyment of
his own thoughts. It did him good--and he knew it--to get off in this
way when things were not going to his liking. It gave him an
opportunity to review himself in the cold blood of retrospect, without
interference; and it gave him time quietly to review the conduct of
others about him; a chance to decide whether he was right or wrong in
the position he had assumed; a chance to plan his future course