nd Keller, going to the
door, shouted: "Sadie!"

A girl came out on the veranda. She was a handsome girl, smartly dressed
in white, with a fashionable hat that had a tall plume. Her hair and
eyes were black, the latter marked by a rather hard sparkle; her nose
was prominent and her mouth firm. Her face was colorless, but her skin
had the clean smoothness of silk. She had a firmly lined, round figure,
and her manner was easy and confident. Sadie Keller was then twenty-one
years of age.

"I thought you had forgotten to come, Bob," she said with a smile.

"Then you were very foolish; you ought to have known me better,"
Charnock replied, and helped her into the wagon.

"Well, you do forget things," she resumed as he started the team.

"Not those I want to remember. Besides, if you really thought I had
forgotten, you'd have been angry."

"How d'you know I'm not angry now?"

Charnock laughed. "When you're angry everybody in the neighborhood
knows."

This was true. Sadie was young, but there was something imperious about
her. She had a strong will, and when it was thwarted was subject to
fits of rage. Reserve was not among her virtues, and Charnock's languid
carelessness sometimes attracted and sometimes annoyed her. It marked
him as different from the young men she knew and gave him what she
called tone, but it had drawbacks.

"Let me have the reins; I want to drive," she said, and added as the
horses trotted across the grass beside the torn-up trail: "You keep a
smart team, but they're too light for much work about the farm."

"That's so. Still, you see, I like fast horses."

"They have to be paid for," Sadie rejoined.

"Very true, but I don't want to talk about such matters now. Then
I've given up trying to make the farm pay. When you find a thing's
impossible, it's better to let it go."

Sadie did not reply. She meant to talk about this later, but preferred
to choose her time. Her education had been rudimentary, but she was
naturally clever. She liked admiration, but was not to be led into
foolishness by vanity. Sadie knew her value. It had for some time been
obvious that a number of the young farmers who dealt at the store and
frequented the hotel did so for her sake, and she was willing to extend
her father's trade. In fact, she helped to manage both businesses as
cleverly as she managed the customers. Her charm was largely physical,
but she used it with caution. One might indulge in banter, and Sadie had