"It's nothing I can do or leave undone, is it?" asked McCloud, laughing a little as he implied in his tone that she must be worrying about something. Dicksie made a gesture of alarm. "Oh, no, no; nothing!" "It's a pretty good plan not to worry about anything." "Do you think so?" "Why, we all thought so last night. Heavens!" McCloud drew back in his chair. "I never offered you a piece of chicken! What have I been thinking of?" "Oh, I wouldn't eat it anyway!" cried Dicksie. "You wouldn't? It is delicious. Do have a plate and a wing at least." "Really, I could not bear to think of it," she said pathetically. He spoke lower. "Something is troubling you. I have no right to a confidence, I know," he added, taking a biscuit. Her eyes fell to the floor. "It is nothing. Pray, don't mind me. May I fill your cup?" she asked, looking up. "I am afraid I worry too much over what has happened and can't be helped. Do you never do that?" McCloud, laughing wretchedly, tore Caesar's last leg from his body. "No indeed. I never worry over what can't be helped." They left the dining-room. Marion came down. But they had hardly seated themselves before the living-room fire when a messenger arrived with word that McCloud was wanted at the river. His chagrin at being dragged away was so apparent that Marion and Dicksie sympathized with him and laughed at him. "'I never worry about what can't be helped,'" Dicksie murmured. He looked at Marion. "That's a shot at me. You don't want to go down, do you?" he asked ironically, looking from one to the other. "Why, of course I'll go down," responded Dicksie promptly. "Marion caught cold last night, I guess, so you will excuse her, I know. I will be back in an hour, Marion, and you can toast your cold while I'm gone." "But you mustn't go alone!" protested McCloud. Dicksie lifted her chin the least bit. "I shall be going with you, shall I not? And if the messenger has gone back I shall have to guide you. You never could find your way alone." "But I can go," interposed Marion, rising. "Not at all; you can _not_ go!" announced Dicksie. "I can protect both Mr. McCloud and myself. If he should arrive down there under the wing of two women he would never hear the last of it. I am mistress here still, I think; and I sha'n't be leaving home, you know, to make the trip!" McCloud looked at Marion. "I never worry over what can't be helped--though it is dollars to cents that those fellows don't need me down there any more than a cat needs two tails. And how will you get back?" he asked, turning to Dicksie. "I will ride back!" returned Dicksie loftily. "But you may, if you like, help me get my horse up." "Are you sure you can find your way back?" persisted McCloud.