“Well, you took pretty good stock of me in the train on the way here, I guess,” he laughed, pacing up and down the room.

“What makes you think so?” asked Nora, who had recovered her coolness.

“Well, I felt you was looking at me a good deal while I was asleep,” he jeered.  “It wasn’t hard to see that you was turning me over in your mind.  What conclusion did you come to?”

Nora evaded the question for the moment.

“You see, I lived all these years with an old lady.  I know very little about men.”

“I guessed that.”

“I came to the conclusion that you were a decent fellow and I thought you would be kind to me.”

“Bouquets are just flying round!  Have you got anything more to say to me?” he asked, seating himself once more in his chair.

“No, I think not.”

“Then just get me my tobacco pouch, will you?  I guess you’ll find it in the pocket of my coat.”

With narrowed eyes, he watched her first hesitate, and then bring it to him.

“Here you are.”  Her tone was crisp.

“I thought you was going to tell me I could darned well get it myself,” he laughed.

“I don’t very much like to be ordered about,” she said smoothly; “I didn’t realize it was one of your bad habits.”

“You never paid much attention to me or my habits till to-day, I reckon.”

“I was always polite to you.”

“Oh, very!  But I was the hired man, and you’d never let me forget it.  You thought yourself a darned sight better than me, because you could play the piano and speak French.  But we ain’t got a piano and there ain’t anyone as speaks French nearer than Winnipeg.”

“I don’t just see what you’re driving at.”

“Parlor tricks ain’t much good on the prairie.  They’re like dollar bills up in Hudson Bay country.  Tobacco’s the only thing you can trade with an Esquimaux.  You can’t cook very well, you don’t know how to milk a cow; why, you can’t even harness a horse.”

“Are you regretting your bargain already?”

“No,” he said, going over to the shelf in search of the matches, “I guess I can teach you.  But if I was you”—­he paused, the lighted match in his fingers, to look at her—­“I wouldn’t put on any airs.  We’ll get on O. K., I guess, when we’ve shaken down.”

“You’ll find I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself,” she said with emphasis, speaking each word slowly.  She returned his steady gaze and felt a thrill of victory when he looked away.

“When two people live in a shack,” he went on as if she had not spoken, “there’s got to be a deal of give and take on both sides.  As long as you do what I tell you you’ll be all right.”

A sort of an angry smile crossed Nora’s face.

“It’s unfortunate that when anyone tells me to do a thing, I have an irresistible desire not to do it.”

“I guess I tumbled to that.  You must get over it.”