Year: 1870

AT last-itseemedt to him SO long, though
II was hardly moment-in that snowy
moonshine he saw the pallid face of wo-
man lying motionless among her furs.


With suppressed cry he lifted that
beautiful form to his shoulder. and sat
down on the cutter, bending his lips to
the cold ones that could not respond to his
caress. And yet she was not dead--a faint
breath just sighed across his cheek.


Was it thus he had thought to greet his
promised wife He could not think-he
knew nothing but that he had found Alice
and his whole being rose to the resolve
that he would save her-that neither snow
nor ice, nor cold should take her from him.
She was his and he claimed her despite
everything.


But he could not linger there; he must
be moving on, though ever so slowly. He
bore his burden to his own cutter, taking
with him the furs that could not save her
after that fearful sleep had begun. His
horses walked on again-they needed no
guiding-they could find their way better
than man could direct.


Anything but intense love would have
despaired in that tempest of snow, with
that pitiless wind freezing across the earth,
raising no glow on the blue white face
against his own.


He roughly chafed with snow her hands
and face; but he soon saw that Severer
measures must be tried that the lethargy
was too deep. She dimly felt the deep
friction, for she moaned and seemed to
shrink from it--a wordless request to be
left alone.


Russell had forgotten the cold for him
self, the snow swept by him unheeded.
And he lifted her in his arms, and stepped
out into the snow, letting her stand beside
him, then trying to make her fight her way
on, knowing that if she could once be
reused she was saved.


At first she fell down hopelessly, sank
Immediately, with no wish to stir. But in
a moment his ceaseless efforts had some
effect, and he could compel her to use her
muscles slightly, though her head dropped
in an unknowing stupor.


Russell felt that he had never suffered
before. He thought the pain and sorrows
of all his life were crowded into that one
night. By slow degrees. almost hopeless
ly slow, consciousness and horriblesssuf-
fering returned.


His face was pale and sick, as he knew
the agonies she endured. But pain was
the signal of life, and not now would he
despair.


At last she looked at him with recogniz-
ing eyes, and when everything else had
failed, love reached the fountain of GRIM
son, and sent wave ofits red tide to her
| face.


Weak, suffering, she reclined upon his
arm, unabled to move or to speak Could
he keep the life he had saved, through q
much longer journey?


When he left the city there were few
houses scattered by the roadside for two
or three miles The dim glimmer of their
lights he had seen; but since then he had
noticed nothing-it was waste through
which he was riding, with no lamp of
hope held out to him. And the delicate
girl, but half resuscitated, he thought
oh, how many miles before safety?


An half hour passed, and through Rus
sells brave soul had already darted the
first doubt. Human endurance could not
last forever, and it was more than he could
do to preserve the feeble life he had recall
ed. In another half hour ice and cold
might conquer him. He would die with
her; he could not live when that dear
face was beneath the sod.


! A quarter of mile further on, and he
saw through the storm a dark object by
the roadside. 1t was building of some
kind, and it could shelter them. He turn
ed his horses heads that way :nd plunged
through the snow to the door. There was
no door, 1t was a dismantled log but,
with its door gone, and its one little win
dow broken out. But it was better than
the fury without, and in another five min
utes Alice was sheltered from the wind.
With painful and patient fumbling he
succeeded in fastening the buffalo skin in
front of the doorway, thus forming an
insufficient barrier Then he drew from
his pocket his cigar-case and his matches.
and lighting one of the latter, looked
eagerly around the room in the fickering
light. That glance told him that there
was an immense fireplace at one side Of
the hut, and divine light streamed into
his soul at the sight.


AS the horses had dragged the cutter to
the house, the runner had grated over the
top rail of a fence, and the unseen post had
nearly upset the light cutter.


The white fingered fair-faced English
man worked with a power that was more
like fury, and when at last ruddy blaze
flew up the broad chimney, tears Of joy
actually started from his eyes.


Exhausted, happy. he knelt at the feet
of Alice, and hid his face in herhands. With
that reviving warmth came little of
strength to her weary SOUL She leaned
forward, a smile upon her lips and in her



eyes, and murmured:


'Itwas Heaven itself who sent you here.
Robert


Two hours later grey dawn was strug-
Cling through the clouds; q broad strip Of
blue encircled the west; the wind moaned
in lower tones. The old hut was golden
with the wood fire--it threw it's radiance
over the two horses that had been led in.
and stood wild and grateful in corner,
their eyes staring at the fire.


Renovated, though weak, with happi-
ness beyond words, warm in heart, Alice
Malcom greeted her wedding day. She
had told her story to Robert-the story of
her desertion in the snow. As the storm
had come on more furiously, her driver,
whom she believed trustworthy, announce
ed his intention of returning. She had
discovered that he was in a semi-intoxicat-
ed state but she refused to return, and
he would not goa step farther and had cut
the traces, and, mounting one of the