His next impulse was to rush to Gaston's shack; his second thought restrained him. If Gaston had returned, he would rightfully resent any outside interference with this crucial time of his life. If Joyce were decided in the course she had laid out for herself—how dared he, how could he, divert her from it without involving them all in a deeper perplexity?
So Drew resigned himself to the Power that is.
CHAPTER XVIII
It was Billy Falstar who broke upon Joyce's solitude after Ruth Dale had left her.
Worn beyond the point where conscious suffering held strong part, Joyce was completing her final arrangements mechanically and laboriously when Billy presented himself.
"Say, Joyce," the boy faltered, standing in the doorway and kicking his heels together, "I'm blamed sorry I done that sneak job."
"It doesn't matter much, Billy. But now that you are here, will you help me pack food and things? I'm going—away."
Then Billy recalled the letter, and fear rose sharply to the fore.