Kate began to doubt whether Marion would make a suitable wife for Fred. She had discovered that Marion was selfish, for one thing; being selfish, she was also mercenary.  Kate began to fear that Marion had designs upon Fred for the sake of his timber claim; which was altogether different, of course, from Kate’s designs upon Marion’s timber claim!  Besides, Marion was inclined to shirk her share of the cooking and dishwashing, and when she made their bed and tidied the crude little room they called their bedroom, she never so much as pretended to hang up Kate’s clothes.  She would appropriate the nails on the wall to her own uses, and lay Kate’s clothes on Kate’s trunk and let it go at that.  Any woman, Kate told herself, would resent such treatment.

Then Marion was always going off alone and never asking Kate if she would like to go along.  That was inconsiderate, to say the least.  And look how she had acted about climbing the peak at Mount Hough, the day they had gone to see the lake!  Kate had wanted to go down to the lake—­but no—­Marion had declared that it was more beautiful from the rim, and had insisted upon climbing clear to the top of the peak, when she knew perfectly well that the altitude was affecting Kate’s heart.  And she had gone off alone and stayed nearly two hours, so that they were almost caught in the dark on the way home.  It was the most selfish thing Kate had ever heard of—­until Marion perpetrated worse selfishness which paled the incident.

More than that, Marion was always making little, sneering remarks about the professor, and doing little things to annoy him.  Kate could not see how any one could do that, kind as Douglas was, and courteous.  And there were times when Marion seemed actually to be trying to interest Fred; other times she purposely irritated him, as though she were deliberately amusing herself with him.  All this was not taking into account Marion’s penurious habit of charging Kate for every facial massage and every manicure she gave her.  When Kate looked ahead to the long winter they must spend together in that cabin, she was tempted to feel as though she, for one, would be paying an exorbitant price for her timber claim.

With all that tucked away in the back of her mind, Kate still believed—­or at least she successfully pretended to believe—­that she liked Marion personally as much as she ever had liked her.  She did not see why any one must be absolutely blind to the faults of a friend.  She merely recognized Marion’s faults.  But if she ever criticised, she condoned the criticism by saying that it was for Marion’s own best interests.

Just now, while she cleared away the litter of Fred’s dinner, she meditated upon the proper manner of dealing with Marion’s latest defection.  Should she warn the professor to say nothing to Fred?  It might turn Fred against Marion to know what she had done; Fred was so queer and old-fashioned about women.  Still, he would be sure to hear of it somehow, and it might be best to tell him herself, as tactfully as possible, because she knew so well just how best to approach Fred. She told Fred and was amazed at the result.