estly.

"Oh yes. I've got to start for headwaters in the morning." There was
doleful regret in his tones.

He was rather surprised to find so much pleased animation in her face;
truly, this girl from the city acted as if she were delighted by the
news of his going away; she even seemed to be confessing it. "I'm glad!"
she cried. Then she smoothed matters after a glance at his grieved and
puzzled face. "I'm glad to hear a man say that he's devoted to his work.
So many these days don't seem to take any interest in what they're
doing--they only talk wages. Yours must be a wonderful work--on the
river--the excitement and all!"

"Yes," he admitted, without enthusiasm.

The street was muddy and they went slowly; he hung back as if he wanted
to drag out the moments of their new companionship.

He cast about for a topic; he did not feel like expatiating on the
prospects ahead of him in his work. "If you're going to make much of a
stop here----"

She did not take advantage of his pause; he hoped she would indicate the
proposed length of her stay, and he was worrying himself into a panic
for fear she would not be in Adonia on his next visit to report to
Flagg.

"I wish we had a better hotel here, so that you'd stay all contented for
a time--and--and enjoy the country hereabouts."

"Isn't the hotel a fit place for a woman who is unaccompanied?"

"Oh, that isn't it! It's the slack way Brophy runs it. The help
question! Martin does the best he knows how, but he finds it hard to
keep table girls here in the woods. Has to keep falling back on his
nephew, and the nephew isn't interested in the waiter job. Wants to
follow his regular line."

"And what's that?" she asked, holding to a safe topic.

"Running Dave's stable. Nephew says the horses can't talk back."

She stopped and faced him. "Do you think the landlord would hire me as a
waitress?" She had come to Adonia in haste, leaving her plans to hazard.
Now she was obeying sudden inspiration.

If she had slapped him across the face she could not have provoked more
astonishment and dismay than his countenance showed.

"I have done much waiting at tables." She grimly reflected on the cafes
where she had sought the most for her money. "I'm not ashamed to confess
it."

He stammered before he was able to control his voice. "It isn't that.
You ought to be proud to work. I mean I'm glad--no, what I mean is I
don't understand why--why----"

"Why I have come away up here fo