A Countess from Canada | Page 5

because of this mysterious
mood displayed by her father at the mention of a strange man's name.
'Duke Radford did not come in from the store until it was nearly time
for night school, so Katherine saw very little more of him, except at a
distance, for that evening; but he was so quiet and absorbed that Mrs.
Burton asked more than once if he were feeling unwell. She even
insisted on his taking a basin of onion gruel before he went to bed,
because she thought he had caught a chill. He swallowed the gruel
obediently enough, yet knew all the time that the chill was at his heart,
where no comforting food nor drink could relieve him.

CHAPTER II
A Curious Accident
The nearest Hudson's Bay store to Roaring Water Portage was fifteen
miles away by land, but only five by boat, as it stood on an angle of
land jutting into the water, three miles from the mouth of the river.
'Duke Radford's business took him over to this place, which was called
Fort Garry, always once a week, and sometimes oftener. Usually either
Miles or Phil went with him, although on rare occasions Katherine took
the place of the boys and helped to row the boat across the inlet to the
grim old blockhouse crowning the height.
It was a week after the trip to the house of Astor M'Kree that the
storekeeper announced his intention of going to Fort Garry, and said
that he should need Miles to help him.
"I must go by land to-day, which is a nuisance, for it takes so much
longer," he declared, as he sat down to breakfast, which at this time of
the year had always to be taken by lamplight.
"Shall I come instead?" asked Katherine, who was frying potatoes at
the stove. "I am quicker on snowshoes than Miles, and he has got such
a bad cold."
"You can if you like, though it isn't work for a girl," he answered in a
dispirited tone.
"It is work for a girl if a girl has got it to do," she rejoined, with a merry
laugh; "and I shall just love to come with you, Father. When will you
start?"
"At dawn," he replied brusquely; and, finishing his meal in silence, he
went into the store.
"Katherine, what is the matter with Father? Do you think he is ill?" Mrs.
Burton asked in a troubled tone. "He has been so quiet and gloomy for

the last few days; he does not eat well, and he does not seem to care to
talk to any of us."
Katherine shivered and hesitated. She knew the moment from which
the change in her father's manner dated, but she could not speak of it
even to her sister. "Perhaps the cold weather tries him a great deal just
at first; it has come so suddenly, and we are not seasoned to it yet, you
know," she answered evasively.
"I hope it is only that," answered Mrs. Burton, brightening up at the
suggestion. "And really the cold has been terribly trying for the last
week, though it won't seem so bad when we get used to it. I am glad
you are going with Father, though, for Miles has such a dreadful cold,
poor boy."
"His own fault," laughed Katherine. "If he will go and sit in a tub half
the day, in the hope of shooting swans, he must expect to get a cold."
"Boys will do unwise things, I fancy. They can't help it, so it is of no
use to blame them," Mrs. Burton said with a sigh.
Katherine laughed again. Mrs. Burton had a way of never blaming
anyone, and slipped through life always thinking the very best of the
people with whom she came in contact, crediting them with good
intentions however far short they might prove of good in reality. The
sisters were alike in features and in their dainty, womanly ways, but in
character they were a wide contrast. Katherine, under her girlish
softness and pretty winning manner, had hidden a firm will and purpose,
a sound judgment, and a resourcefulness which would stand her in
good stead in the emergencies of life. She liked to decide things for
herself, and choose what she would do; but Mrs. Burton always needed
someone to lean upon and to settle momentous questions for her.
'Duke Radford was ready to start by the time dawn arrived, and
Katherine was ready too. It was so very cold that she had twisted a
cloud of brilliant scarlet wool all over her head and ears, in addition to
her other wrappings. There were some stores to take to Fort Garry, and
there would be others to bring back, as considerable trading was done

between