Flora Schuyler looked up. "I think you will have to face that question, Mr. Grant," she said. "A good many men of your kind have had to do it before you. Isn't a faulty ruler better than wild disorder?" "Yes," said Hetty eagerly. "That is just what I mean. If you saw they wanted anarchy, Larry, you would come back to us? We should be glad to have you!" The man turned his eyes away, and Flora Schuyler saw his hands quiver. "No," he said. "I and the rest would have to teach them what was good for them, and if it was needful try to hold them in. Whatever they did, we who brought them here would have to stand in with them." Hetty accepted the decision in his tone, and sighed. "Well," she said, "we will forget it; and Flo has the coffee ready. That is yours, Larry, and here's a box of crackers. Now, we'll try to think of pleasant things. It's like our old-time picnics. Doesn't it remind you of the big bluff--only we had a black kettle then, and you made the fire of sticks? There was the day you shot the willow grouse. It isn't really so very long ago!" "It seems years," said the man, wistfully. "So much has happened since." "Well," said Hetty, "I can remember all of it still--the pale blue sky behind the bluff, with the little curl of grey smoke floating up against it. You sat by the fire, Larry, roasting the grouse, and talking about what could be done with the prairie. It was all white in the sunshine, and empty as far as one could see, but you told me it would be a great red wheat-field by and by. I laughed at you for dreaming things that couldn't be, but we were very happy that day." Grant's face was very sad for a moment, but he turned to Miss Schuyler with a little smile. "Hetty is leaving you out," he said. "I wasn't there, you see," Miss Schuyler said quickly. "Those days belong to you and Hetty." Hetty glanced at her sharply, and fancied there was a slightly strained expression in the smiling face, but the next moment Miss Schuyler laughed. "What are you thinking, Flo?" said Hetty. "It was scarcely worth mentioning. I was wondering how it was that the only times we have crossed the bridge we met Mr. Grant." "That's quite simple," said Larry. "Each time it was on Wednesday, and I generally drive round to see if I am wanted anywhere that day. They have had to do almost without provisions at the homesteads in the hollow lately. Your dollars will be very welcome, Hetty." Hetty blushed for no especial reason, except that when Grant mentioned Wednesday she felt that Flora Schuyler's eyes were upon her. Then, a voice rose up below. "Hello! All quiet, Jake?" There were footsteps in the snow outside, and when the sentry answered, the words just reached those who listened in the room. "I had a kind of notion I saw something moving in the bluff, but I couldn't be quite sure," he said. "There was a door or window banged up there on the verandah a while ago, but that must have been done by one of the women in the house."