Poor Daisy! My thoughts had swung quickly enough from my mother to her,
and, once there, persistently lingered. She had, then, been at the Cedars
since June; she had been very ill, but now was in health again; she was a
fugitive from her rightful home, and stood in fear of her former servants;
she had upon her hands a broken old invalid, and to all his freaks and
foibles was a willing slave; she was the saddened, solitary mistress of a
large estate, with all its anxieties multiplied a hundred-fold by the
fact that these were war-times, that passions ran peculiarly high and
fierce all about her, and that her husband's remaining friends, now her
bitter foes perhaps, were in a desperate state of temper and daring.

From this grewsome revery I roused myself to exclaim: "Teunis, every day
counts now. The sooner I get home the better."

"Quite so," said he, with ready sarcasm. "We will go on snow-shoes to
Sorel to-morrow morning."

"No: you know what I mean. I want to----"

"Oh, yes, entirely so. We might, in fact, start this evening. The wolves
are a trifle troublesome just now, but with a strong and active companion,
like you, I should fear nothing."

"Will you cease jesting, Teunis! What I want now is to exhaust all means
of gaining strength--to make every hour tell upon the work of my
restoration. There is urgent need of me at home. See for yourself!" And I
gave him my mother's letter.

My cousin had had from me, during our long camp intercourse, sufficient