"I had no alternative," she said. "I began to realize it after my
mother's death. Then my father was badly hurt in an accident with a
team, and I came back. He has nobody else to look after him, and he is
getting on in life."

Her words conveyed no hint of the stern struggle between duty and
inclination, but George guessed it. This girl, he thought, was one not
to give up lightly the career she had chosen.

Then she changed the subject with a smile.

"I suspect that my father approves of you, perhaps because of what you
are doing with the land. I think I may say that if you have any little
difficulty, or are short of any implements that would be useful, you
need only come across to us."

"Thank you," George responded quietly.

"Mr. West mentioned that you were on a farm in this country once
before. Why did you give it up?"

"Somebody left me a little money."

"Then what brought you back?"

She was rather direct, but that is not unusual in the West, and George
was mildly flattered by the interest she displayed.

"It's a little difficult to answer. For one thing, I was beginning to
feel that I was taking life too easily in England, It's a habit that