Ferrars was
staying here?" said Katherine, when the boy came in and locked the
door for the night.

"Of course I didn't. I never said a word good, bad, nor
indifferent to the old fellow. I haven't got over this morning,"
Miles said, in a tone which sounded sullen, but which was only a
cloak for feelings deeply stirred.

"Very well then, for this one night at least he will have the
satisfaction of believing that he was successful in drowning Mr.
Ferrars," Katherine replied.

"Don't worry yourself, Mrs. Jenkin will tell him," said Miles. "Or
some of the men will chaff him, because he has been outwitted by a
girl."

"It wasn't a girl this time; it was Mrs. Jenkin," objected
Katherine, letting a box go down with a bang, for she did not want
the listener in the other room to hear what Miles was saying.

"Mrs. Jenkin might have called out that there was someone in Oily
Dave's house that wanted saving, but I guess the poor man would
have had time to drown twice over if it hadn't been for you getting
on the ice and going to fetch him out," Miles said, sticking to his
own opinion with the obstinacy he was rather fond of displaying.

Katherine took refuge in silence, going out of the store as soon as
she could, and hurrying away to bed, because of the needs of the
next day. Neither she nor Mrs. Burton slept very well, however.
To both of them it was a grief beyond the power of words to
describe to leave their father to the care of a stranger, and they
were both thankful when morning came and the day's routine had to
begin again.

There was no change in the stricken man's condition, but Katherine,
who stayed with him while the others had breakfast, thought that he
looked more comfortable than on the previous evening. When Miles
came in to take her place, she went back to the kitchen, to hear
Mrs. Burton and Jervis Ferrars talking of the Selincourts.

"I suppose Mr. Selincourt is very rich," said Mrs. Burton with a
little wistful sigh, as if she thought that riches might detract
from his niceness.

"Yes, I expect he is very rich, but he is so thoroughly pleasant,
and so free from side, that one is apt to forget all about his
riches," Jervis said, then rose to set a chair for Katherine, and
bring her bowl of porridge from the stove, where it was keeping
warm for her.

"Is Miss Selincourt nice too, and is she pretty?" asked Mrs.
Burton, who to Katherine's secret disquiet was always asking
questions concerning th