e her. She--she--returned it."

Crabbe made some indistinct remark, but Ringfield went on without
caring to ask what it was.

"I tell you--she returned my affection and gave me proof of it. All
that, whatever it was between us, is very sacred and I am not going to
talk about it. Then you know what happened; you would not leave her
alone, you followed and I believe annoyed and pestered her, using the
power you have over her for her destruction and despair."

"The whole thing is monstrous," cried the other hotly. "You have cast
your damned ugly, black shadow over this place too long as it is! Miss
Clairville is no child; she knows, has always known, her own mind, and
I do not grudge her a slight flirtation or two with any one she
fancies; it is her way, a safe outlet for her strong yet variable
temperament. You take things too seriously, that's all."

And the guide, slapping and shaking the snow from his clothing and
adjusting his cap, walked down from the bridge to one side and sat upon
a rock in sheer fatigue. It was the identical rock from which
Poussette had been pulled back by Ringfield on that April day when the
affairs of the parish had been discussed, and was no safer now than at
that time, in fact, footing was precarious everywhere around the fall,
for the same glassy covering, slowly melting and slippery, had spread
to all objects in sight.

Ringfield, too, turned and stood a few yards behind the guide and again
he kept that peculiar silence.

"Now consider," said Crabbe quietly, looking in his pocket for matches
and holding his pipe comfortably in his hand. "I'm perfectly ready to
sympathize with you. I know when you first saw me you cannot have been
very pleasantly impressed, and all that, but that's all or nearly all
over, and I'm going to try and turn over a new leaf, Ringfield. No
more Nature for me, nor for her; we are to flee these dismal wilds and
try a brighter clime,--a brighter clime! You must be generous and
confess that I can do more for her than you can. It will be a new
lease of life for us both, but candidly, Ringfield--lazy dog and worse
that I have been--I think more of what it will mean for her than for
myself."

"If you consider her happiness and her--her good name so much," said
Ringfield, trembling and white, "why did you lie to me about your
relations with her?"

"When did I lie to you?"

"You cannot have forgotten. That day in the shack, the first day I met
you."