gave them all their stuff, they'd meet their bills for a rebate some
time afterwards. Bully for the shippers, but it left the Western men,
who raised the wheat, in the cold. Well, while the _Conference_ got
after him at Montreal, Cartwright came West and booked all the grain he
could load before it started off. When the _Conference_ got wise, the
cargo was in the Independent freighter's hold. Cartwright's surely a
business man."

Barbara laughed and Mrs. Cartwright languidly agreed, but Grace frowned.
Although she did not approve Cartwright, he was the head of her house,
and to know his clever tricks were something of a joke hurt her dignity.
Harry saw her frown.

"Anyhow, Cartwright's promise stands," he resumed. "If he ran his boat
across half empty, he'd make good. You can trust him."

He went off and Barbara mused unhappily. She thought Harry had talked to
help her over an awkward moment, and she was grateful but disturbed. It
looked as if he knew something and he might know much. All the same,
when he talked about her step-father she agreed. Cartwright was bold and
clever, and, although he was sometimes not very scrupulous, people did
trust him. Barbara wished she had his cleverness and his talent for
removing obstacles. There were obstacles in her path and the path was
dark. Yet she had promised to take it and must make good. She tried to
banish her doubts and began to talk.

After lunch she allowed one of the party to help her on board a canoe.
The afternoon was calm, and the light breeze that now and then sighed in
the pine-tops hardly ruffled the shining water. In the evening, when the
straight trunks cut against a blaze of gold and green, they sat by a