By Right of Purchase

some were playing cards, and only a few were left in the big drawing-room where Carrie sat at the piano. Leland stood beside her to turn the music over, a duty which was new to h

as he looked down on the cold face with its crown of dusky hair and saw the gleam of ivory shoulders. This

as an unknown thing to him. Her physical beauty appealed to him, her cold, reposeful sincerity and pride of station had made an even stronger impression, and now he was sen

in the wind and sun. He did not know that several pairs of eyes were watching him with approval, and that the owner of one of them smiled in a fashion which suggested satisfaction as she glanced towards Aylmer. The fleshy gentleman sat not very far away, and Leland fancied that his own presence at the piano was justified when he looked in that direction.

supposing that nobody except the girl and himself had grasped his purpose, or that he would have been able to carry it out at all without the concurrence of one, at least, of those

ivan with a big, partly-folded screen on one hand of her. It cut that nook off from the observation of most of the rest, as she was probably aware whe

o first," she said. "I never suspected you of being a diplom

the piano in advance of Aylmer, who was a trifle heavy on his fee

rankly, "it was e

"Exactly!" she said. "It was either you or Aylmer, and,

to himself, and there was the easily recognisable stamp of grossness and indulgence upon him. The Westerner himself was hard and somewhat spare, a man whose body had been toughened by strenuous labour and held in due subjection by an unbending will. Mrs. Annersly noticed the clearness of his steady eyes and the clean transparency of his bronzed skin. As a man, he was, she decided, certainly to be preferred to Aylmer, and

usual directness, "I wond

's suppositions are correct, I really think Carrie will have enough of Aylm

est she does, why in the name

gain, and it will be the privilege of Carrie's husband to extricate them. I be

am, the thing has been worrying me ever since you did. A marriage of that kind is rath

ily-"the difficulty is that I am afraid there

re she had failed. He did not know how she had conveyed this impression, and, as he could not be sure that she had desired to do so, he sat in silence until she

u going back

time I have been away since I came home from Montreal, and it will probably be a long while bef

n the prairie, espec

and the thermometer at forty below. There's just Prospect and its birch bluff in the midst of the big white circle wi

nage a trip to Montreal or New York occasionally too, and we have a few well-educated people from the East on the prairie not more than twenty miles away; but, since I have nobody to go with, going away from home doesn't appe

hat it would be a good deal mor

e and sweet and dainty like her. She was a well brought-up Englishwoman, and, perhaps, she lived long enough to spoil me. She showed me what a wife could be,

asonably sure of that

you go out there to the prairie and tru

n the tones of her reply there was something

nipeg or Montreal now and then, and bring out any friends I might make there to stay with me. We, however, needn't concern ourselves with that question, since you certainly don't want me. The point is that one could fancy there are English girls

wo. The great bare room at Prospect, with its uncovered walls and floor, and the big stove in the midst of it, rose up before his fancy. Then he saw it changed and cosy, filled to suit a woman's artistic taste with the things he cared little for, but which his wealth could buy for the gracious presence sitting there beside him. Then there would be something to

his capabilities, and fancied there was no reason why, with a clever wife to help him, he should not become famous too, an influence in the new land whose future he and others were laboriously building up. So far, it was only his reason the fancies appealed to, but, as he glanced across the room towards where Carrie

a hard and lonely one, might be changed-it is my personality that presents the difficulty. There is so much you set value on that

't believe the rising generation is more fastidious than my own. In fact, it wouldn't be difficult to persuade onesel

e Denham's chair. Perhaps Eveline Annersly guessed part, at least, of what was in his mind, for she raised her eyes a moment and glanced at Jimmy Denham, who was talking to a young girl some distance away. Jimmy was a y

ng important," he said. "Has he been persuading you

e attractive person, but I understand is rather afraid that nobody of the k

few sensible girls who would say no to a man with his income. In fact,

aning in his pale blue eyes. "Anyway, there's no reason why you shouldn't get any one you have seen a

s too adroit to dwell upon the subject, and, changing it abruptly, led Leland into a discussion of hammerless guns. Still, both he and Eveline Annersly realised that he had said enough, which in most cases is a good deal better than too much. As a matter of fac

t with a directness and singleness of purpose that was a matter of delight to those who watched his proceedings. He, however, was quite oblivious of their amusement. He knew what he wanted, and it did not matter in the least that others should guess it, too, but, apart from his obvious directness, he played the suitor with a grave, old-fashioned gallantry and deference that became him. In fact, since it was by no means what they expe

of the barroom and music-halls. There was more than one maiden at Barrock-holme who felt that it was a pity she had not accorded a little judicious encouragement to the quiet, br

vident that she preferred him to Aylmer. When at last he spoke his mind to her, s

or an answer now. You can wait, at least, until this time to-

ging, but Leland made h

sh, I must try to b