"I am loath to dispossess you."
"I shall be quite comfortable there, and this shall be your room exclusively except when you bid me enter, as when I bring you your meals; otherwise I shall hold it inviolate."
"But," said the woman, "there must be an equal division of labor, I must do my share."
"There isn't much to do in the winter, except to take care of the burros, keep up the fire and prepare what we have to eat."
"I am afraid I should be unequal to outdoor work, but in the rest I must do my part."
He recognized at once that idleness would be irksome.
"So you shall," he assented heartily, "when your foot is well enough to make you an efficient member of our little society."
"Is there anything else before I get supper?"
"You think there is no hope of their searching for me here?"