to support my wife, and I've got
to increase my capital. I want to give you things you like, bought with
money I have earned."

"You really want to feel independent of me," Helen suggested with a
smile. "I suppose it's an honest ambition, but isn't the distinction you
try to make ridiculous?"

"Perhaps, in a way," Festing agreed. "All the same, your help makes it
my duty to do my best. I don't want to feel I might be forced to fall
back on your dollars."

"You are ridiculous, Stephen," Helen rejoined. "However, let's talk
about something else."

The talked good-humoredly until the dew and growing cold drove them in.
Next morning Helen got up while the sun rose from behind a bluff on
the edge of the plain, but when she went out on the veranda she saw the
gasoline tractor and gang-plow lurch across the rise. This indicated
that Festing had been at work for some time, and she looked thoughtful
as she went back into the house.

Stephen was doing too much, and she wondered whether he could keep it
up. Things, however, might be easier when the crop was sown, and if not
she must insist upon his hiring extra help. She liked to see him keen
about his work, but for the last few weeks he had scarcely had a minute
to talk to her, and she could not allow him to wear himself out. After
all, her money gave her some power, and there was no reason she should
not use the power for her husband's benefit.

CHAPTER XIV

SADIE FINDS A FRIEND

The sun shone hot on the rippling grass, but it was cool on the shady
veranda where Helen sat in a basket chair. A newspaper lay close by and
the loose leaves fluttered now and then, but she did not notice that it
was in some danger of blowing away. She had been occupied since early
morning, but was not quite asleep, for she was vaguely conscious of a
rhythmic drumming. By and by she raised her head with a jerk and glanced
at the watch on her wrist. It was three o'clock and she had been dozing
for an hour. Then the drumming fixed her attention and she saw a rig
lurch along the uneven trail. The horses were trotting fast and there
were two people in the light wagon.

Helen saw that one was Charnock. The other, who held the reins, was, no
doubt, his wife, and Helen was sorry that Festing was at work beyond
the rise. She would have liked him to be there when she received her
visitors, but did not think it prudent to send for him. The rig was near
the house now, and as she got up her dress