But no matter what resolutions Jasper made he could not banish Lois from his mind.  It was she who several years before had unconsciously inspired him to launch out into the world and make something of himself.  The thought of her had always urged him on when most depressed and discouraged.  In his darkest hours of gloom he had seen her eyes filled with sympathy fixed upon him as on that day he had first met her and had fled disgraced from her father’s house.

Such impressions were not easy to banish in an instant, and so as he knocked at the door of the haven he fervently hoped that Lois might be there.  But as he entered David’s room other interests engaged his attention.  Hitherto all had been peace there.  The old man was generally seated by the open window listening to the voice of his beloved falls.  But now there was a distinct atmosphere of excitement.  Mrs. Bean was there, and her face had a most worried expression.  Betty had been crying, but seeing Jasper she brushed away her tears and sprang to her feet.

“Oh, Mr. Jasper,” she cried, “isn’t it awful!  Have you heard the news?”

“What news?” Jasper asked in surprise, as he took a chair by David’s side.  “I haven’t heard anything of special importance.”

“It’s about Mr. Sinclair, that’s who it is.  Just think, he wants to take all of our logs!”

“Take your logs!”

“Yes, that’s what he’s going to do.  Mother got a letter from him and she has just read it to us.  He says there is a mistake about the line between his place and ours, and that all those fine logs belong to him.  He says he had a new line run last week and that the old line is wrong.  He warns mother not to touch or sell a log there, for if she does he will sue her.”

Betty was excited, and her words rushed forth like a torrent.  For a few minutes Jasper could hardly believe that he had heard aright.

“Do you mean to tell me,” and he turned to Mrs. Bean, “that what your daughter says is true?  Surely there must be some serious mistake.”

“I’m afraid not,” was the reply.  “There is the letter, which you can read for yourself.”

It took Jasper but a few seconds to scan the brief note, and when he was through he sat staring at it as if he had not seen aright.  Was it possible, he asked himself, that Peter Sinclair was stooping to such a contemptible piece of business?  And to do it to a widow at that added to his meanness.  What justification did he have for doing such a thing? he wondered.

“Was there ever any dispute about the line?” Jasper asked.

“None at all,” Mrs. Bean replied.  “A mistake was made years ago just after we were married.  The surveyor started from the wrong rock up the brook, and the line then run cut off that part which Mr. Sinclair is now claiming.  But it was rectified just as soon as my husband came home, and there has been no trouble since until now.”