ing
to either hand.

"Can you tell us where Mr. Selincourt's house is to be found?"
asked Mary, wondering why the girl had such sad eyes, and what
relation she could be to the two little ones.

"This is Mr. Selincourt's house. I came over this afternoon to see
that everything was in right order, that is all," the sad-eyed
girl--or was she a woman?--explained, drawing back for Mary to
enter.

Miss Selincourt entered, put her bag on the table, and gazed round
with a deep sigh of satisfaction.

"What a charming room! I think I should have been ready to weep if
this had not been our house. Are you Mrs. M'Kree?" she asked
doubtfully, for, although the girl looked so young, she had just
heard one of the children whisper, "Mummy."

"No, I am Mrs. Burton, and I come from the store across the river.
Mrs. M'Kree lives farther up the river, above the second portage,
so it is not easy for her to come down every day, and I have kept
the house open for her."

"It is very kind of you!" exclaimed Mary gratefully, realizing that
here was a very different specimen of womanhood, from the
good-natured slattern who had greeted her at Seal Cove.

"We have to be kind to each other in these wilds, or we should be
badly off sometimes," Mrs. Burton rejoined. Then she said timidly:
"We are very glad to welcome you, and we all feel that you have
conferred a great favour on us by coming to stay here this summer."

Something like an awkward lump got into Mary's throat then. She
had come the long, toilsome journey solely for her own pleasure,
and to be near her father, yet here was one thanking her for the
privilege her coming conferred on these lone dwellers in the
solitudes. She was rarely a creature of impulse, and always prided
herself on the way she kept her head; but the sweet friendliness of
the sad-eyed little woman touched her mightily, and stooping
forward she kissed Mrs. Burton warmly, then promptly apologized,
being properly ashamed of her forwardness.

"Oh, please forgive me! I really could not help it, and you--you
looked so kind!" she said ruefully.

Mrs. Burton laughed, although she looked rather embarrassed, then
she said gently: "I am afraid you must be very tired. If you will
sit down I will quickly get you some tea."

"Please don't trouble. Father and I are quite used to doing things
for ourselves, and I can make a kettle boil over my spirit lamp
while the men are bringing the luggage up from the boats," Ma