He drew her to him with an exultant laugh.
"I've done what I could, and it seems I've failed. Now let Nevis turn me out and I'll almost thank him. After all, there are many worse places than a camp beside the wagon in the birch bluff."
Alison was not at all convinced that it would end in that, and indeed she did not mean it to if she could help it; but in another moment she felt his arms about her and his lips hot upon her face, and it was half an hour later when they left the homestead together. The sun had dipped, and the vast dim plain stretched away before them under a vault of fading blue, but she drove very slowly while Thorne walked beside the buggy for almost a league.
As a result of this, it was very late when she reached the homestead, and she was relieved when Mrs. Farquhar came out alone as she got down. The light fell upon the girl's face as she approached the doorway, and her companion flashed a smiling glance at her.
"I suppose you have been to Thorne's place?"
"Yes," answered Alison quietly. "I am going to marry him."
Mrs. Farquhar kissed her.
"It's very good news. Still, from what I know of Mavy and how he's situated, I'm a little astonished that you were able to arrange it."
"Why do you put it that way?" Alison asked with a start.
Her companion laughed.