Her glance fell before his inquiring look, and the ready color flamed. "Paul doesn’t know," she said. "Please say nothing about it to any one. You see, Uncle Silas,—you see—the country is being settled very fast, and if I don’t make this entry, some one else will." There was another brief silence, then the Judge said, "Poor Forrest! you are even bent on taking his chosen section of land." The color leaped again in her face. She moved a few steps to the window and stood with her back to him, looking down through the orchard to the shimmering Sound. "He told you?" she said. "Yes, he told me. I asked him. It had always seemed so natural you should care something for him; he is well worth caring for. It seems incredible that you should refuse a fine, interesting young fellow like him." He paused, and his voice took its soft undernote. "I asked him, Alice, because I want to take you to Washington. There is only one way I can ask you to go. My dear, you understand—I love you." She moved, startled, and laid her hand on the casing, where Forrest’s had been, waiting. It was the gesture of a woman who feels suddenly, without premonition, the foundations of her world shake. He saw her shoulders lift; her whole body trembled. His glance passed from her, through the window, and on down the slope to the shining sea, and slowly returned. "It is, then, impossible," he said. "I am impossible. Well, forget all about it, little girl; it’s all right. It’s all right. Your happiness first; nothing else counts." "Dear Uncle Silas." She turned, smiling, though her lip quivered and she brushed her hand across her eyes. "_You_ count. I owe all I am to you. And you—are not impossible. I—I’m very fond of you. Its true—Silas." She nodded her head brightly, and dashed her hand again across her eyes. "And I will go to Washington—I’ll be—glad—proud—to be—your wife—as soon as the homestead is safe." *CHAPTER X* *LEM AND THE PHANTOM*