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Blanche crept back into the shanty and bent above the stove, shivering violently. She drew a long breath now and then like a grieving child. Life was over for her. She had reached the point where nothing mattered. She sat there until the sound of bells aroused her. “It’s Jim!” she called, and rose to her feet, her face radiant with relief. Rivers came rushing up to the door in a two-horse sleigh and leaped out with a shout of greeting, though he could not see her at the frosted window.

A moment later he burst in, vigorous, smiling, defiant of the cold.

“Hello! All alone? How are you?”

A quick warmth ran through her chilled limbs, and she lifted her hands to him.

“Oh, Jim, I’m so glad you came!”

“Keep away–I’m all snow,” he warningly called, as he threw off his cap and buffalo coat. “Now come to me,” he said, and took her in his arms. “How are you, sweetheart? I can’t kiss you–my mustache is all ice. Where’s Burke?”

“Gone to Craig’s.”

He winked jovially while pulling the icicles from his long mustache.

“I thought I saw him driving across the ridge. I was on my way to the store, but when I saw his old rack-a-bone team I turned off to see you. How are you?” he asked, tenderly, and his voice swept away all her reserve.

“Oh, Jim, I’m not well. You must take me away, right off. I can’t stay here another day–not a day.”

He looked at her keenly.

“Why? What’s the matter?”

She evaded his eyes.

“It’s so lonesome here–” Then she dropped all evasion: “You know why–Jim, take me away. I can’t live without you now. I’m going to be sick.”

He understood her very well. His eyes fell and his face knotted in sudden gravity. “I was afraid of that–that’s why I came. Yes, you must get out of here at once.”

She understood him. “Oh, Jim, you won’t leave me now, will you?”

“No. I didn’t say anything about leaving you.” He put his arm around her. “I’m not that kind of a man. You and I were built for each other–I felt that on that first ride. I guess it’s up to me to take you out of this.” He broke off his emotional utterance and grew keen and alert.

“I’ve been planning to go, and I’m almost ready–in fact, I could leave now without much loss, but I didn’t come prepared for anything so sudden. My office furniture don’t amount to much, and this team is Bailey’s”–he mused a moment. “Come!” he said, with sudden resolution, “it’s go now–we’ll never have a better chance.”

She turned white with dread–now that she neared the actual deed.

“Oh, Jim! I wish there was some other way.”

He was a little rough. Her feminine hesitation he could not sympathize with.

“Well, there isn’t. We’ve got to get right out of this. Hurry on your things. The wind is rising, and we must make Wheatland by five o’clock. I came out to hold down my claim, but it ain’t worth it. I reckon I’ve squeezed all the juice out of this lemon. This climate is a little boisterous for me.”

He brought in a blanket and warmed it at the fire while she wrapped herself in cloak and shawl.

“I’d better write a little note to–him.”

“What for? I’ve got nothing against him, except that he saw you first. But I guess he’s out of the running now. It’s you and me from this day on.”

“I hate to go without saying good-bye,” she said, tremulously. “He’s always been good to me,” she added, smitten with sudden realization of her husband’s kindness.

He perceived that she was in earnest. “All right–only it does no good, and delays us. Every minute is valuable now. The outlook is owly.”

The plain was getting gray as they came out of the door, and the woman shrank and shivered with an instant chill, but Rivers tenderly tucked the robe about her and leaped into the sleigh.