“It’s going to be done now, or you won’t get your cheque.  I know what I’m up against in you and your gang.”

Wilkinson hesitated, but he needed the money and made out the bill.  After examining it, Sadie wrote a cheque.

“I’ve paid you once, for Keller’s sake, but you had better stop the card games after this.  Bob’s not my partner in the business, and no more of my dollars will go on gambling.”

“Ah!” said Wilkinson sharply, “you’re smarter than I thought!”

Sadie gave him a searching glance and he noted an ominous tenseness in her pose and her drawn-back lips.  He said afterwards that she looked like a wild cat.

“Anyhow, I think I have you fixed.  There’s nothing doing in making Bob drunk again, but you had better understand what’s going to happen if you try.  The next time you drive over to the settlement after my husband I’ll whip you in the street with a riding quirt.”

Wilkinson put the cheque in his pocket and picked up his hat.

“On the whole, I guess I’d better not risk it,” he said and went out.

Sadie let him go, and then went limply upstairs.  She felt worn out and her brain was dull.  She could not think, and a problem that demanded solving must wait until the morning.  After looking into the room where Charnock lay and seeing that he was sleeping heavily, she went to bed.

Next morning she shut herself in the office at the store and gave the clerks strict orders that she was not to be disturbed.  Opening a drawer, she took out a rough balance sheet, which showed that the business was profitable and expanding fast.  Things were going very well, in spite of Bob’s extravagance, and she thought she had prevented his wasting any more money.  In three or four years she could sell the hotel and store for a large sum and, as she thought of it, give herself a chance.

She was young, clever, and attractive, and had recently tried to cultivate her mind.  It was laborious work and she had not much time, but the clergyman of the little Episcopal church gave her some guidance and she made progress.  For one thing, she was beginning to talk like Bob and thought he noticed this, although she had not told him about her studies.  She meant to be ready to take her part in a wider and brighter life when she left the settlement.  Knowing little about large towns, she exaggerated the pleasures they could offer.  Montreal, for example, was a city of delight.  She had been there twice and had seen the Ice Palace glitter against the frosty sky, the covered skating rinks, the jingling sleighs, and the toboggans rushing down the long, white slides.  Then she remembered afternoon drives in summer on the wooded slopes of the Mountain, and evenings spent among the garish splendors of Dominion Park, where myriads of lights threw their colored reflections upon the river.  Since then, however, her taste had got refined, and she now admitted that if she lived at Montreal it might be better to cut out Dominion Park.