A Prairie Courtship

rnoon when Alison, who ached with the jolting, asked if Graham's Bluff was very much farther. It struck her tha

ed casually, "it's m

arted wit

it was evident that her misgiving

out enough already, and there's a farmer ahead who'll take us in. If we rea

singularly few women in the country she was afraid that it was scarcely probable. There

was a two days'

've a call to make, however, which is taking me a good many miles off the direct trai

know Mrs

uainted. When you use the other term in England it to some extent imp

Alison was conscious that the spe

ed in a way that she

del arrangements at her husband's homestead then. Hunter, I understand, came into some money sh

ith which the man had refrained from making any inquiries as to her business with Mrs. Hunter. Indeed, he said nothing for the next half-hour, and

as we'll go to-

lls to live in. It rose abruptly from the prairie, without sheltering tree or fence or garden; but near it there was a pile of straw and two shapeless stru

n with hard, red hands and a worn face appeared in the doorway when T

o-morrow, in for the night and let me camp in the barn," said Thorne. "Is

very little furniture except the big stove in the middle of it. A child was toddling about the floor and another, a very little girl, lay with a flushed face in a canvas chair. The woman asked Ali

he cried. "Got som

el out of his pocket he unwrapped and handed some of its contents to her.

e. She's been like this three or four days. I don'

the child before he tu

t least a notion. A little

two, and then held the

raught mixed? I'm not sure that sh

or she would neither sit a

sure go along with

into an adjoining room, out of which there presently rose the clink of glass and a slight rattling. Then he called the woman, who gave the child to Alison, and when she came back somew

, and being tired out, she slept soundly. Lying still when she awakened early the next morning she heard the woman m

look at the kiddie,

he came back his hostess evidently walked

e stuff I left as I told you, she'll cause you no trouble then," he said

you for the medicin

ned unabashed, he

ng gramophones and little mirrors by the dozen right along the line

with a curious feeling that he had said his friends were poor. She heard the woman thank him

peddling and take up a quar

; "I don't know wher

nd this appeared significant to Alison. "

said Thorne. "She's g

dn't they send for h

king played out and anxious, and said somebody had told her I wa

ess you couldn't help it. It's jus

she recognized that she had need of it, there was something unpleasant in the fact that she was indebted to this stranger's charity. He had confessed that he was sorry

s the uncompr

egan, and the w

g a hotel. You ca

s in one respect a relief to her, for just then there were but two silver coins in her

ollows when the team plodded over the crest of them, and here and there little specks of flowers peeped out among the whitened grass or there was a faint sprinkling of t

at woman would let me pay nothing for my ent

u're most likely to get it from people who are as hard up as you are." He paused with a whimsical smile. "One can't logically feel hurt at the other kind for standing aside or shutting their eyes, but when they proceed to point out

experience?" Alison inqui

ople. To get knowledge that way is considerably easier. But I presume I was taking too much

sed her she could avoid a definite reply. She did not in the least rese

you are wrong," she confessed. "At the present mome

t you were going

ll take me in. I shouldn't b

in her face and looke

at goes quite a way out here. I don't thin

a little faster down the dip the wagon jolted sharply. Then one of the beasts stumbled, plunged, and recovered itself again, and Thorne, seizing Alison's arm as she was almost f

ador fell into it. An accident of t

creek which wound through a deep hollow. On setting out again, however, the horse began to flag and Thorne, who got down once or twice in the meanwhile, was drivin

he said. "It would be cruel

she could look down across the birches upon a vast sweep of prairie, and there was no sig

o be done?

you r

man's expression hinted that the expedien

could walk sixteen

though if the feat had appeared within he

e in the wagon, though I can

d up h

down, and we'll set

ssed by the situation, though this was undoubtedly the case. It seemed to her that his manner implied the possession of a certain amou

will open that and fill the kettle at the creek down there

r two, a bag of flour, a big piece of bacon, which, however, seemed to be termed pork in that country, and a paper package of desiccated apples. She was looking at them somewhat helplessly, for she knew very little about cooking. Thorne made a fire between two bir

p here I'd have soaked those apples. Do you mind sprinkling this flour with a pinch or two o

quired Alison, doi

nleavened bread, only that our pioneers kept on eating it more or less regularly in the land of promise. For all that, I wouldn't wish for better bread than the kin

e green tea and handed Alison a plate containing two flapjacks and some pork. She found them palatable. Even the desiccated apples, which from want of soaking were somewhat leathery, did not come amiss, and the flavor of the wood smoke failed to spoil the strong green tea. Then Thorne poure

tisfied now

tonished to find herself

e plates. In a way, it wasn't altogether my fault that I c

her a pity?" Th

are thousands of us brought up in that way yonder, and when some unexpected thing brings disaster

on on this point, but pre

sked. "I suppose they

figures imply serious study. I can follow a French conversation if they don't speak fast, and read Italian with a dictionary. Before any of these

er with these personal details; but the longing to utter some protest against the half-education which had been merely a h

f thing's rather a pity. Did you

ute. Then I can type about two-thirds as fast as one really ought to, and can keep simple accounts so long as neatness is not insisted o

e lau

nly glad to earn a few dollars by his talents as an auctioneer; that's how they estimate oratory on the prairie. There's another who devoted most o

changed

hat you will do if you don

d Alison, some

you need worry about the matter. It's very probable that som

't even se

s eyes t

they're too busy

er side of the fire. The sun now hung low above the great white waste and the red light streamed in upon them both between the leafless birches. Again s

mpts at gallantries which some of the rest indulged in. They were not all like that, she realized; there were true men everywhere; but now that her first shrinking from the grim and lonely land was lessening it seemed to her that it had, in some respects at least, a more bracing influence on those who lived in it than that other still very dear one on which she had turn

g down again relighted his pipe. There was not a breath of wind, and though she could hear the knee-hobbled horses moving every now and then the silence became impressive. She felt im

e so many provisions in

e lau

in it al

selling things? Is

tion to staying in one place very long, and while I can get a meal and the few things I need by selling an odd bot

he st

n fixed up ready. If you hear a doleful howling yo

shadows and Alison turne