He had just come from the woods, and the smell of wounded cedar-trees was strong about him.

He stood leaning upon his axe as if it were a staff.

"Who's been out with the mare ?" he asked.
"Your sister." "Where ?" "To New Salem." "To see _him_ ?" David nodded grimly.

His lantern cast a pale circle of light on the snow about them.
"About--that ?" "To get him to own up she did it." Eugene Hautville stared at his father, scowling his handsome dark brows.

He was the most graceful mannered of all the Hautville sons, and by some accounted the best-looking.
"Is she crazy ?" he said.
"No, she's a woman," returned his father, with a strange accent of contempt and toleration.
"Did the coward lay it to her when she gave him the chance ?" demanded Eugene.
"No; she said he wouldn't, to shield her." Eugene moved his axe suddenly; the lantern-light struck it, and there was a bright flash of sharp steel in their eyes.