We forded our creek about a mile above the manor and entered the heavy timber. "And to think it is I, Marcia Farrell, who is going to enjoy all this!" I was joyful in the anticipation of spending eight weeks, at least, in the presence of this man; eight untrammelled weeks in this special wilderness to which he asked me in order that it might seem something of a home to him! "And why should n't it be you?" "I don't know of any reason why it should n't, except that it might so easily have been some one else. But I must n't think of that." "That is sensible; although I confess I don't like to think that you might so easily have been some one else. Hark! Hear that cuckoo--" We drew rein for a few minutes, there beneath the great trees. The western light was strong, for the sun was still two hours high. Then we rode on slowly over the wide rough clearings which Cale had run at right angles, north and south, east and west through the woods. "These are all to be grassed down next fall; in another year, if the grass catches well, they will make fine going for horses or for carriages, as well as good fire-lanes for which I have had them cut. In the second season I can turn some of the prize Swiss cattle in here to graze for extra feeding. They know so well how to do all this in Europe, and we can learn so much from those older countries! I am sure, too, if you knew France, you would say that these river counties in French Canada are so like the north of France--like Normandy! When I drive over the country hereabout, I can fancy myself there. I find the same expanse and quiet flow of the river, the highroads bordered by tall poplars, the villages sheltered from the north by a wood break--forest wood. Even the backwater of the river, like our creek, recalls those ancestral lands of my French brothers' forefathers:--the clear dark of the still surface, the lindens, their leaves as big as a palm-leaf fan, coming down to the water's edge, and a wood-scow poling along beneath them. I love every feature of this country!" he exclaimed with enthusiasm, "and I want you to." He turned in his saddle to look directly at me. "I do love it, what I know of it--and I wish I might sometime see those other countries you have spoken of, especially those flower gardens of Erfurt." I smiled at my thought. His words conjured in my imagination enticing pictures of travel--such as I had planned when in New York, when my ten years' savings should permit me to indulge myself in a little roaming. My dream that was! I was tempted to tell him of it then and there. "You know, Mr. Ewart, I spoke very freely to you and Jamie that morning in the office." "Yes; I am thankful you felt you could--at last. I have been waiting for some opportune hour when I could ask you a few personal questions, if you permit."