y glad, when--when we discontinue service in this
place," she said. "The dirt's just--fierce."

Fyles moved up toward her. The matting was in its place.

"Is it?" he said. Then, as he came to a halt, "Say, I've been chasing
the village through half the day to find you, Kate. Then Peter led me
here, and I remembered it was Saturday. I guessed I'd have a surprise
on you, and I thought I'd succeeded. But you don't 'surprise' worth a
cent. Say, I'm to remain here till--after Monday."

Kate slowly rose to her feet. She was clad in a white shirtwaist and
old tailored skirt. She made a perfect figure of robust health and
vigorous purpose. Her eyes, too, were shining, and full of those
subtle depths of fire which held the man enthralled.

"Monday?" she said. Then in a curiously reflective way she repeated
the word, "Monday."

Fyles waited, and, in a moment, Kate's thought seemed to pass. She
looked fearlessly up into the man's eyes, but there was no smile in
response to his.

"I'm--going away until after--Monday," she said.

"Going away?"

The man's disappointment was too evident to be mistaken. "Why?" he
asked, after a moment's pause.

Quite suddenly the woman flung her arms out in a gesture of
helplessness, which somehow did not seem to fit her.

"I can't--bear the strain of waiting here," she said, with an
impatient shrug. "It's--it's on my nerves."

The man began to smile again. "A wager like ours takes nerve to make,
but a bigger nerve to carry through. Still, say, I can't see how
running from it's going to help any. You'll still be thinking.
Thoughts take a heap of getting clear of. Best stop around. It'll be
exciting--some. I'm going to win out," he went on, with confidence,
"and I guess it'll be a game worth watching, even if you--lose."

Kate stooped and picked up the lamp. As she straightened up she sighed
and shook her head. It seemed to the man that a grave trouble was in
her handsome eyes.

"It's not that," she cried, suddenly. "Lose my wager? I'm not going to
lose, but even if I were--I would pay up like a sportsman. No, it's
not that. It's these foolish folk here. It's these stupid creatures
who're just ready to fly at the throat of Providence and defy all--all
superstition. Oh, yes, I know," she hurried on, as the man raised his
strongly marked brows in astonishment. "You'll maybe think me a fool,
a silly, credulous fool. But I know--I feel it here." She placed her
hands upon her bosom with a wo