Donelle folded her thin arms across her breast and swayed to and fro. This gesture of hers was characteristic. When she was glad she moved back and forth; when she was troubled she moved from side to side, holding her slim body close. "I will mind nothing Mamsey, now. I will begin with you!" "And I," murmured Jo gruffly, "I will begin with you, Donelle. You and I, you and I." But of course the outside world soon had to be considered. People came to Jo Morey’s door on one errand or another, but they got no further. "I cannot make Mam’selle out," Marcel Longville confided to the Captain, "she has always been quick to answer a call when sickness was the reason. Now here is poor Tom laid up with a throat so bad that I know not what to do and when I went she opened her door but halfway and said, ’send for a doctor!’" Longville grunted. He had his suspicions about Mam’selle and Gavot, but he could get nothing definite from Pierre and surely there was nothing hopeful about Jo Morey’s attitude. "I’ll call myself," he decided. But to his twice-repeated knocks he got no response; then he kicked on the door. At this Jo opened a window, risking the life and health of her begonias and geraniums by so doing. "Well?" was all she said, but her plain, haggard face startled the Captain. He had formulated no special errand; he had trusted to developments, and this unlooked-for welcome to his advances threw him back upon a flimsy report of Tom Gavot’s sore throat. "I’m sorry, Captain," Jo said, "but I’m not able to do anything to help. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t get a doctor. If it’s a case of money, I’ll pay the bill for the sake of the poor boy and his dead mother." "Mam’selle, you’re not yourself," Longville retorted. "I’m just myself," Jo flung back. "I’ve just found myself. But I’m going off for a few days, Captain, so good-bye." Longville retreated from the house in a sadly befuddled state. Surely something serious was the matter with Jo Morey. She looked ill and acted queer, almost suspiciously queer. And she was going away! No one went away from Point of Pines unless dire necessity drove them. Why should people ever go away from anywhere unless forced? Then Longville’s thoughts drifted back to the time when Mam’selle had gone away before and came back so bedraggled and spent. It was all very odd and unsettling. "Surely Mam’selle needs watching," mumbled Longville and he decided to watch. Night favoured his schemes. He forsook the tavern and made stealthy trips to the little white house, only to be greeted by blank darkness, except for a dim gleam at the edges of the curtain at the window of the small north chamber. "Mam’selle has not yet gone," concluded Longville, but that was little comfort. Then one night he got bolder and crept close to the rear and listened under the chamber window. Jo was talking to—— At that instant the kitchen door was flung open and out dashed Nick.