"Yes, he means well this time." Jake's arm impelled her up the shallow stairs. "Hope he'll keep it up, but it won't surprise me any if he doesn't. He's never been a stayer, and he's not the sort to begin now." "You really don't understand him," Maud said. "Maybe not," Jake's tone was faintly grim. It indicated that he had no intention of arguing the matter further. Maud abandoned it and they mounted the stairs together in silence. At the door of her room she turned without words and put her arms around his neck. He held her closely still supporting her. "Shall I come and put you to bed, my girl?" She answered him softly. "No, darling, no! Don't be late yourself, that's all! And--Jake--thank you for all your goodness to me!" "Oh, shucks--shucks!" he said. She raised her hands, holding the bronze head between them, gazing straight into the free, dominant eyes with all her soul laid open to their look. "There is no one like you in all the world," she said. "You are greater than kings." "That's just your way of putting it," said Jake. "You're not exactly an impartial judge, I reckon. Barring the fact that I'm your mate, I'm a very ordinary sinner. Moreover, Saltash tells me I'm getting fat." "How dare he?" said Maud. He laughed in her indignant face. "Now I'm getting my own back! There! Don't get excited! No doubt he meant well! And I certainly ride heavier than I did. Shall you love me when I'm fat, Maud?" She drew the laughing, sunburnt face to hers. "Don't be--absurd!" she said. Her lips met his and were caught in a long, long kiss. "Guess you're just as moon-struck as I am," said Jake softly. And, "I guess I am," she whispered back. CHAPTER V THE VISITOR Jake carried out his threat the following day, and Maud remained in bed. A violent headache deprived her of the power to protest, and she lay in her darkened room too battered to think, while with characteristic decision he assumed the direction of the household, provoking unwilling admiration from Mrs. Lovelace, the housekeeper, who was somewhat given to disparage men as "poor things who never did a hand's turn for 'emselves if they could get the women to do it for 'em."