“I told her to take the children out for a sled ride.  Betty needs exercise.  She stays indoors too much, and of late she looks pale.”

“What!  Betty not looking well!  She was never ill in her life.  I have noticed no change in her.”

“No, I daresay you have not.  You men can’t see anything.  But I can, and I tell you, Betty is very different from the girl she used to be.  Most of the time she sits and gazes out of her window.  She used to be so bright, and when she was not romping with the children she busied herself with her needle.  Yesterday as I entered her room she hurriedly picked up a book, and, I think, intentionally hid her face behind it.  I saw she had been crying.”

“Come to think of it, I believe I have missed Betty,” said Col.  Zane, gravely.  “She seems more quiet.  Is she unhappy?  When did you first see this change?”

“I think it a little while after Mr. Clarke left here last fall.”

“Clarke!  What has he to do with Betty?  What are you driving at?” exclaimed the Colonel, stopping in front of his wife.  His faced had paled slightly.  “I had forgotten Clarke.  Bess, you can’t mean—­”

“Now, Eb, do not get that look on your face.  You always frighten me,” answered his wife, as she quietly placed her hand on his arm.  “I do not mean anything much, certainly nothing against Mr. Clarke.  He was a true gentleman.  I really liked him.”

“So did I,” interrupted the Colonel.

“I believe Betty cared for Mr. Clarke.  She was always different with him.  He has gone away and has forgotten her.  That is strange to us, because we cannot imagine any one indifferent to our beautiful Betty.  Nevertheless, no matter how attractive a woman may be men sometimes love and ride away.  I hear the children coming now.  Do not let Betty see that we have been talking about her.  She is as quick as a steel trap.”

A peal of childish laughter came from without.  The door opened and Betty ran in, followed by the sturdy, rosy-checked youngsters.  All three were white with snow.

“We have had great fun,” said Betty.  “We went over the bank once and tumbled off the sled into the snow.  Then we had a snow-balling contest, and the boys compelled me to strike my colors and fly for the house.”

Col.  Zane looked closely at his sister.  Her cheeks were flowing with health; her eyes were sparkling with pleasure.  Failing to observe any indication of the change in Betty which his wife had spoken, he concluded that women were better qualified to judge their own sex than were men.  He had to confess to himself that the only change he could see in his sister was that she grew prettier every day of her life.

“Oh, papa.  I hit Sam right in the head with a big snow-ball, and I made Betty run into the house, and I slid down to all by myself.  Sam was afraid,” said Noah to his father.

“Noah, if Sammy saw the danger in sliding down the hill he was braver than you.  Now both of you run to Annie and have these wet things taken off.”