But Katherine would not wait; she was in a hurry to start on the return journey, for every hour now would make the snow surface more wet and rotten to travel over.  She was sick at heart, too, and suffering from the keenest disappointment.  Six months ago how she would have rejoiced at the prospect of having Miss Selincourt at Roaring Water Portage for the weeks of the short, busy summer.  An educated girl to talk to would make all the difference in the isolation in which they were forced to live.  Katherine felt herself thrill and flutter with delight, even while she trembled with dread at the thought of her father having to meet Mr. Selincourt face to face.  She wondered if the rich man who was coming would remember her father, and if he knew of the wrong that the latter had done in keeping silent, so that he might prosper by the other’s downfall.

Bitter tears smarted in her eyes as she toiled through the melting snow; then a dash of wet struck her in the face, and she realized that the rain had begun, and the long winter was coming to an end at last.  The last mile was very hard to traverse, and when at length they went down the hill between the high rocks of the portage trail, Katherine heard a faint rippling sound which warned her that the waters were beginning to flow.  The store was crowded with men, as was often the case in the late afternoon, and Katherine’s hope of being able to tell her father the news quietly was doomed to disappointment.  Her first glance at him told her that he knew all there was to be known, and the look of suffering on his face hurt her all the more because she knew there was no balm for his pain.  Miles was doing what was necessary in the store under his father’s direction, and, because there seemed no need for her assistance just then, Katherine went on indoors to get a little rest before it was time for evening school.

“Oh, Katherine, have you heard the news?” cried Mrs. Burton, who was knitting stockings and reciting “Old Mother Hubbard” between whiles to the twins.

“Yes; at least, I have heard about Mr. Selincourt coming, if that is what you mean,” Katherine answered, as she unfastened her outer garments.

“That is not the best part of the news by any means,” returned Mrs. Burton, giving Lotta a little shake to silence the demand for more of “Mother Hubbard”.  “What delights me so much is to think that Miss Selincourt is coming too.  Just imagine what it will be to have cultured society here at Roaring Water Portage!”

“She will despise us, most likely, and consider us about on a level with Peter M’Crawney’s wife, or that poor little Mrs. Jenkin,” said Katherine.

“Nonsense!” Mrs. Burton’s tone was energetic; her manner one of mild surprise.  “No one would despise you.  They might look down upon me a little, but you are quite a different matter.”

“Perhaps I am,” replied Katherine.  “But somehow I have got the feeling in my bones that Miss Selincourt and I shall not fall in love with each other.”