Lady Merton, Colonist

s swirling past the hotel, on its rush from the high mountains to the plains of Saskatchewan. Craggy mountains drop almost to the river's edge on one side; on the other, pine woo

ton and her brother--Mr. George Anderson--had taken his leave, temporarily, at Calgary. In thirty-six hours, however, he had reappeared. It seemed that the construction work in which he was engaged in the C---- valley did not urgently require his presence; that his position towards the rail

he balcony, Delaine could see far below, in the wood, the flutter of a white dress. It belonged to Lady Merton, and the man beside her was George Anderson. He had been arranging their walks and expeditions for the l

man at all? What did she know about this man who had sprung so rapidly into intimacy with herself and her brother? Yet Delaine could not honestly accuse him of presuming on a chance acquaintance, since it

remote from her during the preceding winter at home, as he was now that he had journeyed six thousand miles simply and solely on the chance of proposing to her. He could not understand how anything so disastrous, and apparently so final, could have happened to him in one short week! Lady Merton--he saw quite plainly--did not mean him to propose to her, if she could possibly avoid it. She kept Philip with her, and gave

this he was dismally aware. Well! he hoped, bitterly, that she knew what she was about, and could take care of herself. This man she had made friends with was good-looking and, by his record, possessed ability. He had fairly gentlemanly manners, also; though, in Delaine's opinion, he was too self-confident on his own account, and too boastful on Canada's, But he was a man of humble origin, son of a farmer who seemed, by the way, to be dead; and grandson, so Delaine had heard him say, through his mother, of one of the Selkirk settlers of 1812--no doubt of some Scotch gillie or shepherd. Such a person, in England, would have no claim whatever to the intimate society of Elizabeth Merton. Yet here she was alone, really withou

him before other ideas had entered in? Ah! it was no longer easy. The distress of which he was conscious had some deep roots. He must marry--the estate demanded it. But his temperament was invincibly cautious; his mind moved slowly. How was he to begin upon any fresh quest? His quiet pursuit of Elizabeth had come about naturally and by degrees. Propi

n path below to the balcony where Delaine stood. Elizabeth waved to him with smiles, a

'clock!--and one of these C.P.R. engines, too, great splendid fellows! We go down the pass, and take tea at Field; and come up the pass again this evening, to dine and sleep at Laggan. As we descend, the engine goes in front to h

er safe." His tone was sharp. He stood with his back

son t

ut it costs us too much to make it safe.

nscious again, as she had often been be

station beaming with smiles. According to him, the privilege allowed them was all

and Duchess, Yerkes,' they says to me at Montreal; for they know there isn't anybody on the line they can trust with a lady as

h with scorn. "I never heard of an

u see 'em, my lady,"

decided fancy, however, which he had lately taken for George Anderson had enabled Elizabeth, in one or two instances, to manage him more effectively. The night they arrived at Calgary, the lad had had a wild desire to go off on a moonlight drive across the prairies to a ranch worked by an old Cambridge friend of his. The night was cold, and he was evidently tired by the long journey from Winnipeg. Elizabeth was in

, she had told him a good deal about Philip and his illness, and their mother, and the old house in Cumberland. She, of all persons, to be so comm

ood, of a great railway system in the middle west of the United States. The railway had been handed over to him in a bankrupt condition. His energy and probity were engaged in pulling it through. More connections between it and the Albertan railways were required; and he was in Canada looking round and negotiating. H

grew deeper, the snows deeper against the blue, the air more

archway, on which was written "The Great Divide," and beneath the archway

hey were on the watershed. The water in the one streamlet

ad been running its parlour and dining cars, its telegraphs and electric lights and hotels, a winding thread of life and civilisation, through the lonely

o engine-drivers descended from the cab of the engine and began to gather a few flowers and twigs from spring bushes that grew near.

!--they come from ou

now entrusted with some of the most important work on the most difficult sections of the line. But they were not going to spend all their days on the line--not they! Like everybody in the West, they had their eyes on the land. Upon a particular dis

g along the line a little in front of the train, turned back towards her party, Delaine looke

in his rich, ponderous voice. "You gave them

perfect pair of gentlemen!--and it

laughed

bewildering--or rather th

real thing," said El

again, with a to

t kind of reality? T

ious of a soreness in his to

, "of the chances a man gets in this

laine, with spirit, "the

old countries? I am rather bored wi

forced

ill ever be fair to it again, or--

a little discompose

ou meet me n

Rome?" he replied, under his b

son's fair, uncovered head and broad shoulders were strongly thrown out against the glistening snows of the background. Upon the three typical figures--the frail English boy--the Canadian--the spare New Yorker--there shone an indescribable brilliance of light. The energy of t

lace has turned my head a little!"--she looked round her, raising her hand to the spectacle as though in pretty appeal to him

h parted lips, and a rather hostile, heated expre

orgive a bookworm his grumble. S

the tiny streamlet with

ice, and Mariette returned from a saunter in the course

for weeks afterwards. But it was worth while. That's a country!"--he threw up his hands. "I was at Edmonton on the day when the last Government lands, the odd numbers, were thrown open. I saw the siege of the land offices, the rush of the n

ime is not America,"

n digested

smile, "if I were a Canadian, p

oing on so rapidly that a movement for annexation, were it once started in certain districts of Canada, might be irresistible. The harsh and powerful face of the speaker became transfigured; one divined

quietly. The Chie

t mountain opposite"--he raised his hand--"looking at the railway camps below me, and the first rough line that had been cut through the forests. And I thought of the day when the trains would be going backwards and forwards, and these nameless valleys and peaks would become the playground of Canada and America. But what I didn't see was the shade of England looking on!--England, whose greater destiny

said Anderson, raising his head from where he lay, looking down into the g

ng eagle, your goa

aught that the Nort

ence o

in the snow and th

d in th

cheered us first, s

uett

, the dear old moth

we

rican l

its the nail. I dare say we have missed our bargain.

s eyes were shining; even Philip sat ope

the spark of consciousness passing between the two faces which he had learnt to watch. It ca

, or America?--a money-grubbing civilisation with no faith but the dol

said Anderson, "unl

e sombrely. "Nations ha

r us, who are passing away! Here we are at the birth. Shall we never, in any state of being, know

ts harshness became serenity, its bitterness peace. And with her quick feeling she guessed that the lament of the Chief Justice

d shown a most delicate and friendly consideration for Delaine. She had turned the conversation often in his direction and on his subjects, had placed him by her side at tea, and in general had more than done he

hief Justice and Delaine had foregathered; Philip was lounging and smoking on the balcony of the hotel with a visitor there, an old Etonian fishing and climbing in the Rocki

and sunlit, of Mount Stephen; far to the West the jagged peaks of the Van Home range shot up into the golden air; on the flat beside the r

lomats and royalties; all the gossip of the moment, in fact, fluttering round the principal figures of English and European politics. It was the talk most natural to her; the talk of the world she knew best; and as Eliz

ittle dry and caustic, even satirical, as on the first afternoon of their acquaintance. So that after a while her gossip flagged; since the game wan

him back to Canada. But she

shes in a water-butt," he said impa

y big wa

as she would. And whether it was the influence of this hidden action and reaction between their minds, or of the perfumed June day breathing on them from the pines, or of the giant splendour of Mount Burgess, rising sheer in front of them out of the dark avenue of the forest, cannot be told; but, at least, they b

s they turned back towards Field, and were in the s

give me if I

ed up su

brother drink so

in, but also of anger. A stranger, who had not yet known them ten days! But she met

hat you mean, Mr. Ande

as been ill, and is not quite master of himself. That is always the critical moment. He is a charm

she thought of the dinner of the night before, and the night before that--of the wine bill at Winnipeg and Toronto. Her colour faded a

ath. I adored my mother. She was everything to me. She brought us up with infinite courage, though she was a very frail woman. In those days a farm in Manitoba was a much harder struggle than it is now. Yet she never complained; she was always cheerful; always at work. Bu

ade a sound

od. Some more wood was wanted. He went out to fetch it, leaving his candle alight, a broken end in a rickety candlestick, on the floor beside the coal-oil. When he got to the stable it was warm and comfortable; he forgot what he had come for, fell down on a bundle of straw, and went into a dead sleep. The candle must have fallen over into the oi

d Elizabeth, unable to tak

nd I have done with you. You can't force us to go on living with you. We will kill ourselves first. Either you stay here, and we go into Winnipeg; or you can sell the stock, take the money, an

never seen

ev

lieve h

go. I tracked him there, shortly afterwards. He was probably

nce, which he br

m not sane on this point. I be

es swimming in tears,

said, trying to smile--"in our

r him!" he said earnes

. They emerged from the forest, and foun

ho, roadless and houseless now, but soon to be as famous through the world as Grindelwald or Chamounix. They dismounted and explored the great camps of workmen in the

with Delaine, and Mariette held a somewhat acid dispute with her on moder

ing bond between Anderson and

f Laggan's handful of houses, went out to stroll and smoke alone, before turning into bed. He walked along the railwa

e aware of a man persistently following him, and not without a hasty

with me? You seem

hur Delaine?" sa

name. What d

ight in the same house w

at's that

e accent was Scotch. In the darkness Delaine dimly perceived an old and bent ma

h him, and presently said something which brought Delaine to a sudden stop of astonishment. He stood there listening for a f