with."

Finally she says, kind of slow and quiet: "Who knows where the
'Cut-off' starts?"

Nobody answers, and up speaks the U. S. man again.

"You've got your nerve, to ask a man out on such a night."

"If there was one here, I wouldn't have to ask him. There's people
freezing within five miles of here, and you hug the stove, saying:
'It's stormy, and we'll get cold.' Of course it is. If it wasn't
stormy they'd be here too, and it's so cold, you'll probably freeze.
What's that got to do with it? Ever have your mother talk to you
about duty? Thank Heaven I travelled that portage once, and I can
find it again if somebody will go with me."

'Twas a blush raising talk, but nobody upset any furniture getting
dressed.

She continues:

"So I'm the woman of this crowd and I hide behind my skirts. Mr.
Mail Man, show what a glorious creature you are. Throw yourself--get
up and stretch and roar. Oh, you barn-yard bantam! Has it had its
pap to-night? I've a grand commercial enterprise; I'll take all of
your bust measurements and send out to the States for a line of
corsets. Ain't there half a man among you?"

She continued in this vein, pollutin' the air, and, having no means