“And then, I shall come in and lunch, and after luncheon I shall go for a drive:  one day we will turn to the right and one day we will turn to the left.  And then I shall have tea.  And then I shall go out again on the neat asphalt paths to give the dogs another walk.  And then I shall change my dress and come down to dinner.  And after dinner I shall play bezique with my employer; only I must take care not to beat her, because she doesn’t like being beaten.  And at ten o’clock I shall go to bed.”

A wave of stifling recollection choked her for a moment so that she could not go on.  Presently she had herself once more in hand.

“At eight o’clock next morning a maid will bring in my tea and hot water, and the day will begin again.  Each day will be like every other day.  And, can you believe it, there are hundreds of women in England, strong and capable, with red blood in their veins, who would be eager to get this place which is offered to me.  Almost a lady—­and thirty-five pounds a year!”

She did not look toward him, or she would have seen a look of wonder, of comprehension and of hope pass in turn over his face.

“It seems a bit different from the life you’ve had here,” he said, looking out through the open doorway as if to point his meaning.

“And you,” she said, turning her eyes upon him, “you will be clearing the scrub, cutting down trees, plowing the land, sowing and reaping.  Every day you will be fighting something, frost, hail or weed.  You will be fighting and I will know that you must conquer in the end.  Where was wilderness will be cultivated land.  And who knows what starving child may eat the bread that has been made from the wheat that you have grown! My life will be ineffectual and utterly useless, while yours——­”

“What do you mean?  Nora, Nora!” he said more to himself than to her.

“While I was talking to Mrs. Sharp just now, I didn’t know what I was saying.  I was just trying to comfort her when she was crying.  And it seemed to me as if someone else was speaking.  And I listened to myself.  I thought I hated the prairie through the long winter months, and yet, somehow, it has taken hold of me.  It was dreary and monotonous, and yet, I can’t tear it out of my heart.  There’s beauty and a romance about it which fills my very soul with longing.”

“I guess we all hate the prairie sometimes.  But when you’ve once lived on it, it ain’t easy to live anywhere else.”

“I know the life now.  It’s not adventurous and exciting, as they think back home.  For men and women alike, it’s the same hard work from morning till night, and I know it’s the women who bear the greater burden.”

“The men go into the towns, they have shooting, now and then, and the changing seasons bring variety in their work; but for the women it’s always the same weary round:  cooking, washing, sweeping, mending, in regular and ceaseless rotation.  And yet it’s all got a meaning.  We, too, have our part in opening up the country.  We are its mothers, and the future is in us.  We are building up the greatness of the nation.  It needs our courage and strength and hope, and because it needs them, they come to us.  Oh, Frank, I can’t go back to that petty, narrow life!  What have you done to me?”