"We have been talking over matters while you were out," he told him. "As I"ve decided to stay here, my people are going home soon--in a week or two, I think; and I expect Colston will leave with them. I thought you might like to know."
He saw the color creep into Muriel"s face; and when he turned back to the house Prescott lifted the girl down from the sleigh.
"Dear, I can"t let them take you away," he said.
Muriel glanced across the snowy plain to the blaze of fading color upon its western rim. It was growing shadowy, the woods were blurred and vague, but its wideness fired her imagination and she felt the exhilaration that was in the nipping air.
"Jack," she smiled up at him, "my home is here! I"m learning to love the prairie, and it has brought me happiness. I"m glad to stay with you!"
THE END