He saw the gleam in Agatha’s eyes. “Oh!” she cried, “that is just what he must have done. He was like that always—impulsive, splendidly generous.”
Wyllard felt that he had succeeded, though he knew that there were men on the prairie who called his comrade slackly careless, instead of impulsive. Agatha spoke again.
“But Gregory wasn’t a carpenter,” she said.
“In those days when money was scarce we had to be whatever we could. There wasn’t much specialization of handicrafts out there then. The farmer whose crop was ruined took up the railroad shovel, or borrowed a saw from somebody and set about building houses, or anything else that was wanted.”
“Of course!” replied Agatha. “Besides, he was always wonderfully quick. He could learn any game by just watching it a while. He did all he undertook brilliantly.”
It occurred to Wyllard that Gregory had, at least, made no great success of farming; but that occupation, as practiced on the prairie, demands a great deal more than quickness and what some call brilliancy from the man who undertakes it. He must, as they say out there, possess the capacity for staying with it—the grim courage to hold fast the tighter under each crushing blow, when the grain shrivels under the harvest frost, or when the ragged ice hurtling before a roaring blast does the reaping. It was, however, evident that this girl had an unquestioning faith in Gregory Hawtrey, and once more Wyllard felt compassionate towards her. He wondered if she would have retained her confidence had Hawtrey spent those four years in England instead of Canada, for it was clear from the contrast between her and her picture that she had grown in many ways since she had given her promise to her lover. He had said what he could in Hawtrey’s favor, but now he felt that something was due to the girl.
“Gregory told me to explain what things are like out there,” he said. “I think it is because they are so different from what you are accustomed to that he has waited so long. He wanted to make them as easy as possible for you, and now he would like you to realize what is before you.”
He was surprised at the girl’s quick comprehension, for she glanced around the luxurious room with a faint smile.
“You look on me as part of—this? I mean it seems to you that I fit in with my surroundings, and would be in harmony only with them?”
“Yes,” answered Wyllard gravely, “I think you fit in with them excellently.”