"The pines are corking," he added. Then: "Miss Walden, how do you like the looks of the place?" Donelle, under a heavy veil, was feasting her eyes on Point of Pines; on a blessed figure waiting by a sturdy cart. "It looks like heaven!" replied the even voice of Mary Walden. Jo Morey came to the gang plank, and found her own among the passengers. Then her brows drew close, almost hiding her eyes. "Those are my boarders!" she proclaimed loudly, seizing Donelle. "This way, please." Law was the only one who spoke on the drive up. Jo sat on the shaft, the others on the broad seat. "I miss Nick," he remarked. Mam’selle turned and gave him a stern look. Could he not know, the stupid man, that Nick would have given the whole thing away? Nick had a sense that defied red wigs and false voices. Nick was at that moment indignantly scratching splinters off the inside of the cow-shed door. There was a sumptuous meal in the spotless and radiant living room. There was a gentle fire on the hearth, though why, who could tell? And then, according to orders when the sun was not too bright, Norval announced that he was going to take off his "screens." "I’m going to look about for a full hour," he said quietly, but with that tone in his voice that always made Donelle bow her head. "Mam’selle!" "Yes, Mr.——" Jo wanted to say Richard Alton, instead she managed the Norval with a degree of courtesy that put heart in the man who listened. "Mam’selle, I haven’t noticed Donelle’s voice. Where is she?" "She’ll come, if you want her, Mr. Norval." Want her? Want her? The very air throbbed with the want. "She’s upstairs," added Jo, looking grimmer than ever. "I—I have something to tell her about Tom Gavot—her husband." Norval smiled strangely. "I’ll call her, Mr. Norval." Then they all waited. Law walked to the window and choked. In the distance he could hear the howling demands of the imprisoned Nick and the swishing of the outgoing tide. Mam’selle stood by the foot of the little winding stairs. She was afraid of herself, poor Jo, afraid she was going to show what she felt! Norval sat in the best rocker, his hands clasped rigidly. He had not removed his screens, he did not intend to until he heard upon the stairs the step for which he hungered. And then Donelle came so softly that the listening man did not know she was there until she stood beside him. She had put on a white dress that Mam’selle had spun for her. The pale hair was twisted about her little head in the old simple way; the golden eyes were full of the light that had never shone there until love lighted it. Law and Jo had stolen from the room. "Here I am!" Then Norval took down the screens and opened his arms. "My love, my love," he whispered, "come!" "Why——" Donelle drew back, her eyes widened. "Donelle, Donelle, do you think you could hide yourself from me? Why, it was because I saw you that I wanted to live; wanted to make the most of what I had.