At last, it being settled that Johnson was to pass the night in the Girl’s cabin, she went over to the bed and, once more, began to make it ready for his occupancy.  Meanwhile, Johnson, seated in the barrel rocker before the fire, watched her with a new interest.  The Girl had not gone very far with her duties, however, when she suddenly came over to him, plumping herself down on the floor at his feet.

“Say, did you ever ask any other woman to marry you?” she asked as she leaned far back in his arms.

“No,” was the man’s truthful answer.

“Oh, how glad I am!  Take me—­ah, take me I don’t care where as long as it is with you!” cried the Girl in an ecstasy of delight.

“So help me, God, I’m going to . . .!” promised Johnson, his voice strained, tense.  “You’re worth something better than me, Girl,” he added, a moment later, “but they say love works miracles every hour, that it weakens the strong and strengthens the weak.  With all my soul I love you, with all my soul I—­” The man let his voice die out, leaving his sentence unfinished.  Suddenly he called:  “Why, Min-Minnie!”

“I wasn’t really asleep,” spoke up the Girl, blinking sleepily.  “I’m jest so happy an’ let down, that’s all.”  The next moment, however, she was forced to acknowledge that she was awfully sleepy and would have to say good-night.

“All right,” said Johnson, rising, and kissed her good-night.

“That’s your bed over there,” she told him, pointing in the direction of the curtains.

“But hadn’t you better take the bed and let me sleep over here?”

“Not much!”

“You’re sure you would be more comfortable by the fire—­sure, now?”

“Yes, you bet!”

And so it was that Johnson decided to pass the night in the Girl’s canopied bed while she herself, rolled up in a blanket rug before the fire, slept on the floor.

“This beats a bed any time,” remarked the Girl, spreading out the rug smoothly; and then, reaching up for the old patchwork, silk quilt that hung from the loft, she added:  “There’s one thing—­you don’t have to make it up in the mornin’.”

“You’re splendid, Girl!” laughed Johnson.  Presently, he saw her quietly closet herself in the cupboard, only to emerge a few minutes later dressed for the night.  Over her white cambric gown with its coarse lace trimming showing at the throat, she wore a red woollen blanket robe held in at the waist by a heavy, twisted, red cord which, to the man who got a glimpse of her as she crossed the room, made her prettier, even, than she had seemed at any time yet.

Quietly, now, the Girl began to put her house in order.  All the lights, save the quaintly-shaded lamp that was suspended over the table, were extinguished; that one, after many unsuccessful attempts, was turned down so as to give the right minimum of light which would not interfere with her lover’s sleep.  Then she went over to the door to make sure that it was bolted.  Outside the wind howled and shrieked and moaned; but inside the cabin it had never seemed more cosey and secure and peaceful to her.