“Do you know where their father is?”

“He lives near Ithaca, so we’re told.”  After a silence she continued, “We want them to forget—­to forget, ourselves, all about their former lives.  I asked Horace if he wanted to place them in schools; but he didn’t want them to go away.  As long as they are as good as they have been, they’re welcome to stay.  Poor little things, they’re nothing more than babies, not yet sixteen!”

“The girl looks older,” commented Everett.

“That’s because she’s suffered more than most girls do.  I’m afraid it’ll be a long time before Floyd is completely well.”

The conversation then drifted to that happy spring day when they would be married.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

From the window of the drawing-room in his home Everett threw a glance into Sleepy Hollow and listened to the wind weeping its tale of death through the barren trees.  The tall monuments were as spectral giants, while here and there a guarding granite figure reared its ghostly proportions.  But the weird scenery caused no stir of superstition in the lawyer.

In hesitation, Everett stood for some seconds, the snow falling silently about him; for he was still under the mood that had come upon him during Ann’s parrying of his curiosity concerning the squatter children.  As he paused, the Great Dane, in the kennel at the back of the house, sent out a hoarse bark, followed by a deep growl.  So well trained was the dog that nothing save an unfamiliar step or the sight of a stranger brought forth such demonstrations.  Everett knew this, and walked into the garden, spoke softly to the animal, and, noting nothing unusual, ran up the back steps.  The door opened under his touch, and he stepped in.  The maids were in the chambers at the top of the house, and quietude reigned about him.  The young master went into the drawing-room, stirred the grate fire, and sat down with a book.  For many moments his eyes did not seek its pages.  His meditations took shape after shape; until, dreaming, he allowed the book to rest on his knees.

Everett was perfectly satisfied with his success as a lawyer.  He had proved to others of his profession in the surrounding county that he was an orator of no little ability and preeminently able to hold his own in the courtroom.

He could not have desired or chosen a better wife than Ann promised to be; but something riotous in his blood made him dissatisfied with affairs as they stood now.  Manlike, he reflected that, if he had been allowed to caress Fledra as he had desired, he would have been content to have gone on his way.  He wondered many times why his heart had turned from Ann to another.  Something in every thought of Fledra Cronk sent his blood tingling and set his heart to leaping.  His dreams melted into pleasurable anticipations, and he tried to imagine the windings of his future path.  Chance had always been kind, and he wondered whether an opportunity to win the affections of the small, defiant girl in the Shellington home would be given him.  A strain in his blood called for her absolute subjection—­and, subdue her he would; for he felt that an invincible passion slept in her tempestuous spirit.