Part 18 (1/2)

There was a little explosion, one afternoon, when he ventured to advise her in regard to her relations with Bill The forester hihty ring of his ax against the tough spruce Virginia was at work preparing their si meal; Harold was stretched on her own cot, the curtain drawn back, his arms under his head, his unshaven face curiously dark and unprepossessing

”You inia,” he began in the silence

Virginia turned to hier tips If he had seen her flushed, intent face he would have backed ground quickly Unfortunately he was gazing quietly out the

”What do you mean?” she asked

Wholly aware of her own displeasure, wondering at it and anxious to hide it, she was able to control her voice Its tone gave no key to her thoughts Harold answered her, still unwarned:

”I mean--keep him at his distance He's a different sort froht, as far as his kind goes--but he hasn't had the advantages” Harold spoke tolerantly, patronizingly

”Those fellows are apt to take advantage of any faht if you keep 'ehty likely to break lose froinia”

Virginia's eyes blazed If it is one of the precepts of good breeding ever to let anger control the spirit, Virginia had made a breach indeed

Her little hands clenched, and she had a fierce and insane desire to beat those babbling lips with her fists Then she struggled to regain her coan at last coldly ”I don't care to hear any more such talk as that”

The nation in her face

He felt the rising tide of his own anger ”I'an weakly

”And I don't need or want any such warnings I don't care what you think of Bill--for that matter, you can be sure that Bill doesn't care at all either--but I'll ask you to keep your thoughts to yourself

Oh, if you only kne good, how strong, how true he has been--how tender he has been to e, and in his fury and malice he made the worst mistake of all ”I hope he hasn't been _too_ tender----” he suggested viciously

But at once he was on his feet, begging her pardon He knew that he had ave hiraciousness or her loyalty--but she didn't i eyes and clenched hands, a cli fire and fury in his brain, while the rew to hatred, bitter and black

XVII

The addition of Harold to their nuinia's old relations with Bill They were comrades as ever; they talked and chatted around the little stove in the hushed nights; they played their favorite raph, and they took the sa expeditions into the wild These latter diversions were looked upon with no favor by Harold, but he couldn't see how he could reasonably interfere Nor did he care, at first, to accompany them He had no love for the snoastes

The crust on the snoas steadily strengthening; most the days were clear and excessively cold The journey could be undertaken soon Only a few more days of the adventure remained

Their excursions at first were a matter of pleasure only, but by one unexpected stroke from the sinister powers of the wild they were suddenly e of the blow ca fire

She had not yet risen It had always been her practice to wait till the roo and warm before she dressed She was asleep when Bill came in, and aroused by his footsteps, she are of the fleeting memory of unhappy dreams She couldn't have told just what they were It see her security,--that evil and dangerous forces were conspiring and ainst her Hidden foes were in aer seemed different and beyond that which she had faced every day: snow and cold and the other inanimate forces of the wild And she was vastly relieved to hear Bill's voice calling her from sleep

But the next instant her fears returned--not the ghastly fear of evil dreams but of actual and real disaster It wasn't Bill's usual custom to waken her He wanted her to spend as many as possible of the monotonous hours in sleep There was a subdued quality in his voice, too, that once or twice she had heard before She drew aside the curtain, far enough to see his face There was no paleness, however, nor no fear, for all that his eyes were sober

”You'd better get up as soon as you can, Virginia,” he said ”We've got to take a real hunt to-day”

”Hunt? After meat?”

”Yes We're face to face with a new probleht--the wolf pack As usual, when men are near, they didn't ot aith the bigon the spruce Stripped the bone clean”