Their heads, too, drew closer together.  Perhaps it was the storm which caused this movement, for it was difficult to face the tempest.  It was merely an incident in their young lives, and yet it caused their hearts to beat faster and their faces to flush, the memory of which they would ever cherish.  How easy then it would have been for Jasper to give voice to the promptings of his heart.  He felt that Lois cared for him and would respond to his love.  But just when he might have spoken Pedro plunged into the ditch, and it took all of his master’s attention to get him back on the road without upsetting the sleigh.

“We nearly went over that time,” Jasper remarked.  Then they both laughed.  Why they did so they alone knew.  But from that moment they understood each other better than ever before.

It was a hard struggle Pedro put up that night as mile after mile he crept onward.  The froth flew from his champing mouth and the vapour rose from his steaming body.  The footing was uncertain, the snow deep, and the driving storm almost blinded him.  But never for an instant did he hesitate or show the least sign of discouragement.  He seemed to realise how much depended upon his exertions this night, and he felt bound to do his utmost.  His master held the reins and in his judgment he had perfect confidence, and for him he would have expended the last ounce of his marvellous strength.  Nevertheless, his eyes brightened and his weary steps quickened when at length he saw the lights from Mrs. Bean’s house struggling faintly through the night.  With a sudden spurt he dashed through the gateway and surged proudly up to the door like a hero who had fought a hard battle and had won.

CHAPTER XIX

DEVELOPMENTS

Lois was destined to remain at Mrs. Bean’s during January and February.  She camped, as she called it, in the room next to the small one occupied by her father, and thus she was always near to wait upon him day or night.  Mr. Sinclair’s recovery was slow, and at first the doctor almost despaired of his life.  It was a bad case of pneumonia brought on by his becoming over-heated while walking along the cut-out, and then getting chilled to the bone lying on the snow.  To Lois it was a most anxious time, and during the first two weeks she seldom went out of the house.  When at last her father was able to be left alone for a while she spent an hour or so out of doors with Dora and Stephen.

It was a wonderful winter to the Bean family.  Never before had Mrs. Bean known what it was to be free from the oppressing spectre of want.  No longer was she forced to worry about household supplies; neither was it necessary for Steve to go to the store each week with his basket of eggs and a few rolls of butter.  He carried, instead, an order from Lois, and Andy Forbes was only too willing to deliver the goods in person instead of letting Steve carry them as hitherto.  Jimmy was working in the woods with Jasper, and every Saturday night he brought his wages home to his mother.  Thus the Bean household was well supplied with sufficient food and the widow’s heart was made glad.