The sun was hot, the lake shone like glass, and resinous smells floated about the woods. Breakfast was over and Mrs. Duff occupied a camp-chair in the shade of a big hemlock opposite the double tent. Duff lay in the dry pine needles and languidly studied The Colonist. Bob’s ax had stopped and all was quiet. One heard the river throb and sometimes in the distance cow-bells clanked.
The ColonistDuff was rather fat and his slight stoop indicated that he had for long been engaged at an office desk. Although his mood was philosophical, his face was marked by lines and Mrs. Duff imagined some had got deeper recently. Yet Tom was not old and, so far as she knew, all went well with him. Mrs. Duff was a quiet, kind, shrewd woman and trusted her husband. People who knew Tom Duff did trust him.
For
