about it at the Garth."

"But you sent my partner money when he needed it," Foster answered,
wondering how far he could go. "The last time it was a large amount
and helped us to turn an awkward corner. In fact, we should have gone
under for a time if it hadn't come, and I remember feeling that I owed
much to friends I might never see, because I shared the benefit with
your brother. In its Western sense, partner means more than a business
associate."

"That is obvious," Alice rejoined quietly, but with meaning.

"The main thing is that the money seems to have been well spent,"
Featherstone interposed. "For all that, we don't know much about what
Lawrence did with it or, indeed, about his life in Canada."

"It's curious that one gets out of the way of writing home in the West,
and it's often difficult to give one's friends a clear idea of how one
lives. Things are different------"

Mrs. Featherstone smiled, and Foster saw that his wish to make excuses
for his comrade's negligence was understood. Featherstone, however,
was franker than he expected.

"There were good reasons for Lawrence's not writing home and they made
it awkward for us to write to him for a time. You can now tell us what
he has done in Canada. We want to know."

Foster began with some hesitation by relating how he had first met his
comrade in the churned-up mud outside a logging camp after a dispute