To some city people the life in a country house, especially in the winter time, would have been very lonely and trying.  But with Lois it was different.  She thoroughly enjoyed the change, and as soon as she was able to leave her father alone for a few hours she would spend the time out of doors with Dora and Stephen.  To them she was a marvellous woman, and they fairly worshipped her.  What fun they had coasting down the big hill over the firm crust, and what snow-houses they made when the snow could be packed and moulded into any shape.  But to Lois the best enjoyment of all was to accompany Steve on his rounds to his rabbit snares.  The forest was a revelation to her.  She knew it well in summer, but nothing about its winter moods, such as the weird silence of a frosty morning, broken only at times by the pistol-like report from a distant tree.  It startled her at first, and she stood spell-bound listening to its reverberation up and down the long woody reaches.

“The frost does that,” Steve explained.  “I’ve heard our house do the same thing on a cold night.  Ma says it’s drawin’ the nails.”

Lois liked the woods best when a stiff wind was abroad.  She enjoyed hearing it roaring overhead, bending and twisting the tops of the pointed trees.  The forest then seemed to be alive, and not so inanimate as on a cold frosty morning.  It was more companionable in such a mood, and it seemed to her like a wonderful organ with all the stops out under the control of some mighty unseen master.  It was a pleasure to her to stand and listen to the varying sounds.  But Steve and Dora knew nothing of such feelings and kept her constantly on the move.  The tracks of the rabbits or those of a fox thrilled them far more than Nature’s mysterious melodies.

It was a Saturday afternoon such as this that Lois was with Steve and Dora on their regular rounds.  They led her this day farther than usual to some new snares that Steve had set.  At length they came out upon the trail leading from Mrs. Bean’s to the falls, travelled chiefly by Jimmy.  Lois was standing on the path with Dora by her side waiting until Steve had set one more snare in a good place he had spied.  She presented a picture of perfect health and beauty as she stood there, with the rich blood mantling her face.  Jasper was sure that he had never seen any one so lovely as he appeared suddenly in sight around a bend in the trail.  He was walking fast with an axe over his shoulder, but he stopped in his tracks when he saw Lois before him.  At first he was half tempted to turn back, lest his presence might not be desired.  He did not wish to have the appearance of spying upon those before him.  But before he had time to decide, Dora saw him.

“Oh, look,” she cried, “there is Mr. Jasper.”

Startled more than was her wont, Lois quickly turned and her eyes rested upon the young man who was now hastening forward.

“Pardon me,” Jasper began, “I am so sorry that I have frightened you.”