u like, though it isn't work for a girl," he answered
in a dispirited tone.

"It is work for a girl if a girl has got it to do," she rejoined,
with a merry laugh; "and I shall just love to come with you,
Father. When will you start?"

"At dawn," he replied brusquely; and, finishing his meal in
silence, he went into the store.

"Katherine, what is the matter with Father? Do you think he is
ill?" Mrs. Burton asked in a troubled tone. "He has been so quiet
and gloomy for the last few days; he does not eat well, and he does
not seem to care to talk to any of us."

Katherine shivered and hesitated. She knew the moment from which
the change in her father's manner dated, but she could not speak of
it even to her sister. "Perhaps the cold weather tries him a great
deal just at first; it has come so suddenly, and we are not
seasoned to it yet, you know," she answered evasively.

"I hope it is only that," answered Mrs. Burton, brightening up at
the suggestion. "And really the cold has been terribly trying for
the last week, though it won't seem so bad when we get used to it.
I am glad you are going with Father, though, for Miles has such a
dreadful cold, poor boy."

"His own fault," laughed Katherine. "If he will go and sit in a
tub half the day, in the hope of shooting swans, he must expect to
get a cold."

"Boys will do unwise things, I fancy. They can't help it, so it is
of no use to blame them," Mrs. Burton said with a sigh.

Katherine laughed again. Mrs. Burton had a way of never blaming
anyone, and slipped through life always thinking the very best of
the people with whom she came in contact, crediting them with good
intentions however far short they might prove of good in reality.
The sisters were alike in features and in their dainty, womanly
ways, but in character they were a wide contrast. Katherine, under
her girlish softness and pretty winning manner, had hidden a firm
will and purpose, a sound judgment, and a resourcefulness which
would stand her in good stead in the emergencies of life. She
liked to decide things for herself, and choose what she would do;
but Mrs. Burton always needed someone to lean upon and to settle
momentous questions for her.

'Duke Radford was ready to start by the time dawn arrived, and
Katherine was ready too. It was so very cold that she had twisted
a cloud of brilliant scarlet wool all over her head and ears, in
addition to her other wrappings. There were some sto