tree by tree, the plantation of firs, and had noted how the tips of some
were injured, and had given his opinion as to whether or not it were
likely that deer had stolen down from the wild country near at hand and
nibbled the young firs in the night.

"It's perfectly possible," said Ussher. "I have five hundred acres
myself, and then the Club owns a huge tract, and then there's some state
land. You see we have hardly any neighbors except the Fenimers and
they're eight or nine miles away."

"They live here?"

"In summer--and then only when Fred Fenimer is in funds, and that's not
often. A precarious sort of existence, his--gambling in mining stocks,
almost always in wrong. Hard on the daughter--wish some nice fellow would
come along and marry her."

"He probably will," answered Riatt rather coldly. "It's beginning to
snow again."

Ussher had just had his pond swept so that his guests could skate, and
now couldn't imagine what he should provide for them for the afternoon,
so that his thoughts were instantly and completely turned from
Christine's problems to his own.

At the house they found every one waiting for lunch; Mrs. Almar and
Christine chattering together on a window-seat as if they were the most
intimate allies; Hickson reading his fourth morning paper, and Mrs.
Ussher paying the profoundest attention to something Wickham was saying.
She had suddenly wakened to the fact that he was having a wretched time