She saw him gaze thoughtfully into the glowing embers of the fire, and as
she watched him her quick intuition grasped a subtle change in his mood. It
brought a sternness to his face. She could hardly realize she was looking
at the Glenn Kilbourne of old.

"Come close to the fire," he said, and pulled up a chair for her. Then he
threw more wood upon the red coals. "You must be careful not to catch cold
out here. The altitude makes a cold dangerous. And that gown is no
protection."

"Glenn, one chair used to be enough for us," she said, archly, standing
beside him.

But he did not respond to her hint, and, a little affronted, she accepted
the proffered chair. Then he began to ask questions rapidly. He was eager
for news from home--from his people--from old friends. However he did not
inquire of Carley about her friends. She talked unremittingly for an hour,
before she satisfied his hunger. But when her turn came to ask questions
she found him reticent.

He had fallen upon rather hard days at first out here in the West; then his
health had begun to improve; and as soon as he was able to work his
condition rapidly changed for the better; and now he was getting along
pretty well. Carley felt hurt at his apparent disinclination to confide in
her. The strong cast of his face, as if it had been chiseled in bronze; the
stern set of his lips and the jaw that protruded lean and square cut; the
quiet masked light of his eyes; the coarse roughness of his brown hands,
mute evidence of strenuous labors--these all gave a different impression
from his brief remarks about himself. Lastly there was a little gray in the
light-brown hair over his temples. Glenn was only twenty-seven, yet he