Part 6 (2/2)

”You mean I'm very Canadian? Anyway, I try to be sensible--I've done some wretchedly foolish things and I've got to pay for them. Of course, this visit's only an episode to you; something that's soon over and forgotten.”

There was trouble in his voice, though he strove to speak with indifference, and after a swift glance at him she answered coldly:

”I suppose it is. One impression rubs out another, and no doubt we shall see something novel and interesting farther on. However, we won't stay in Canada very long and we shall see your father and sister as soon as we get home. It's curious that you have scarcely mentioned them.”

”Oh, well,” he evaded awkwardly, ”Harry has told me a good deal.”

He turned his head, dreading her curious eyes. His last evening in her company was proving more trying than he had expected; though usually tolerant and good-humored, the strain made him bitter. To-morrow he must put this girl out of his mind. After all, it was to Cyril Jernyngham, rake and wastrel, but a man of her own station, that she had been gracious and charming; had she known he was Jack Prescott, she would, no doubt, have treated him very differently; but in this supposition he did her wrong.

Puzzled by his lack of responsiveness and with wounded pride, she stopped and looked out toward the northwest across the prairie. Steeped in strong coloring, it seemed to run back into immeasurable distance, though a wonderful blaze of crimson marked its rim. The faint, cool air that flowed across it was charged with a curious exhilarating quality; there was a subtle fragrance of herbs in the gra.s.s.

”It's getting late,” she said; ”I must go in. This is the last sunset I shall watch on the prairie, and in several ways I'm sorry. You have made our stay here very pleasant.”

CHAPTER V

THE MYSTERY OF THE MUSKEG

Colston and his party had been gone a fortnight when Prescott called at the Jernyngham homestead one afternoon and found its owner sitting moodily in the kitchen, which presented a chaotic appearance. Unwashed plates and dishes were scattered about, the wood-box was overturned and poplar billets strewed the floor, there was no fire in the rusty stove, and the fragments of a heavy crock lay against the wall. The strong sunlight that streamed in emphasized the disorder of the room.

”I was pa.s.sing and thought I'd come in,” Prescott explained. ”Where's Mrs. Jernyngham? The look of the place gives one the idea that she's not at home.”

”It's never remarkably tidy.” Jernyngham broke into a rueful smile. ”I believe she started for the settlement when I was at work in the summer fallow this morning. The fact that the horse and buggy are missing points to it.”

”But don't you know whether she has gone or not?”

”I don't,” said Jernyngham. ”She didn't acquaint me with her intentions.

As I see she has taken some things along, it looks as if she meant to visit Mrs. Harvey at the store. They're friends now and then.”

His manner was suggestive, though he looked more resigned than disturbed, and Prescott, glancing at the shattered crock, ventured a question which he feared was not quite judicious:

”How did you break that thing?”

”It ought to be a warning. I didn't break it; it was meant to break on me. Ellice flung it at my head a day or two ago, and fortunately missed, though as a rule she's a pretty good shot. I suppose it's significant that neither of us troubled to pick up the pieces.”

Prescott looked sympathetic, and hesitated, with his half-filled pipe in his hand.

”Shall I go, Cyril? I want to make Sebastian before it's dark.”

”Sit still,” Jernyngham told him. ”I'm in an expansive mood, and I've a notion that I'm not far off a crisis in my affairs. Ellice has been fractious lately; I seem to have been getting on her nerves, which perhaps is not surprising.”

Prescott made no comment and after sitting silent a few moments Jernyngham resumed:

”I was rather rash when I ventured to remonstrate about a bill. Ellice pointed out, with justice, that so long as I slouched round and let Wandle rob me, I'd no right to grumble at her for buying a few things.

Most unwisely I maintained my point and”--he indicated the broken crock and littered table--”you see the consequences.”

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