By Right of Purchase

me in, soon after she had finished the meal, to say that Leland might not be back until the evening, and, when he offered to take her round the homest

ect there are very few folks in Montreal have anything quite

nto Carrie's face, but

she said. "Mr. Leland

. There's not a straighter or a better-hearted one between Winnipeg and the Rockies-but it would be wo

a trifle coldly

of anxiety in her eyes, and then sighed a little as she went on with her work again. She

phere, the sun that had no heat in it shone dazzlingly, and the snow that flung the sun's rays back fell from her feet dusty and dry as flour. No cloud flecked the clear blueness overhead, and fainter washes of

it had a little verandah with rude pillars and trellis work on one side of it, and Gallwey assured her there were not many houses in that country to equal it. Then he showed her the barns and stables, built in part of birch logs and for the rest of sods, stretching back into the shelter of the bluff. They were primitive and almost shapeless structures, with roofs

ches. Round this had been piled an immensity of very short straw, and the roof, which had partly fallen in as the bags beneath it had been cut out, co

usual grana

st of the straw standing, and thresh in the field, whilst most of the smaller men rush their grain in to the railroad

that her husband's change of purpose had attracted a

a little primitiv

ld spend part of their profits making things comfortable, every dollar Charley Leland takes out of the land goes back into it again, and with the increase he breaks so many more acres each year.

rried. After all, it is scarcely fit for a man to live as he has done, stripping himself of everythi

do to brighten the life he led, if it was only to teach him that it had more to offer him than the material results of ceaseless labour. Still, that had not been her purpose in marrying him, and she felt an unco

horses and the me

only with most men in this country, but we raise the two, and Charley is thinking of cutting out some stock for the market, though it's very seldom don

urally not have done, could he have helped it. The reflection was not exactly a pleasant one, for though Branscombe Denham had carefully refrained from mentioning to what agreement he and Leland had come, she was, of course, aware that her marriage had relieved him from some, at least, of his financial difficulties. After all,

ht of her. It cost her an effort to submit to the touch of his lips, but she made it, though she felt her cheeks grow hot, and was sorry she had done so when she

ard and lonely here, and I fancied it was going to be different now. I

k, potatoes, apples, flapjacks or hot cakes with molasses, and strong green tea, it is usually very much the same from Winnipeg to Calgary. Few men have more, or desire it, on the prairie, and fewer still ha

ot convenient for me to have Ada

?" and again the man gl

course I do. I must ha

be content for a little with my company. Anyway, we won't let that count. Couldn't you bring Mrs. Annersly out?

to live here?" and there was something

was rather nice to me. Is there

g to get away from the question. It is why

hand upon her arm. "Won't you let it rest t

, unfortunately, she had some notion of w

dly. "I really thi

wouldn't suit me to have

ot appeared in the girl's ch

vantage, and he would need it in the struggle which was evidently impending. He had never faced an angry

s. Heaton is in Chicago when her home is in Lond

er eyes-"you have heard those tales, and believed them-about a relati

y of us; and, it seems, he had some reason. Still, there's rather more against Mrs. Heaton than

e fancied that he knew rather more than she did about the recent doings of the lady in question. The pride of

ve here with your horses and cattle presume to decid

society. And the woman you want to bring here has openly disregarded it. You must have heard something of the

his temper, and was looking at her appealingly. It was unfortunate that she only remembered he had presumed to cast a slur

re points on which what I say stands. This house was built for my mother. I

imperious, but at last da

have expected that I should ever

forehead as he looked at her, and a da

gone that far, you have got to

just what took place, and there are no doubt many of us for sale. Isn't that alone sufficient to make me ha

thing she had expected just then, undoubtedly became him. "I had 'm

naturally felt was another grievance against him. She had the old disdain of those who own the land for those who till it, and, although in t

itter laugh that brought the

d on her shoulder a

o unwillingness to take my cheque, and he would have taken Aylmer's could he have raised him high enough. Who was the lowest down, the Western farmer, who, at least, meant to be kind to you, or Branscombe Denham, who was willing to sell his daughter to the highest bidder? Stil

had never seen in that of any Denham, and the tightening grip of his ploughman's fingers bruised her shoulder cruelly. Perhaps unconscio

to me. That has to be remembered always

Oh," she said, "sit down, and try to be r

n she sat down, leaned upon the b

?" he

e to an understanding once for all to-night. In

but this appeared a brutality to which he could not force himself, for, in spite of what she had told him, he could not b

not know. That was part of it, but I think there was more. It was a hard life and a bare one here, and I had a fancy that you could show me how much I might have that I was missing. A smile would have helped me through my difficulti

r as I can get it for you. You can have any of your friends here who will make the journey and be civil to your farmer-husband, and you can go to them

, generous. To make the understanding

aid his hand upon

little you think of your husba

have struck you for that, but it must go with the rest. Still, even if I were all that your

ith the veins swollen on his fo

had to offer for nothing," he said. "I suppos

I think I almost love you for the grit that made you show your

and left her suddenly

on. Will you write for M

nder the circumstances it is adv

a day or two, but that night she found a bl