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knowing how to write, and that I was the one wrote those letters, and where we lived."
    "I was afraid to tell the truth."
    "But he'll find out. He's bound to find out."
    "But he'll find out too late, if we're lucky."
    "That ain't right, Anna."
    Anna stared up into the darkness above her, feeling tears gathering in her throat. "I know. But since when's right ever worked on our side?"
    No, James admitted to himself, right had never been on their side at all. Still, he didn't think two wrongs made a right either. He knew what a shock it must've been to Karl Lindstrom to see him arrive today with Anna--a kid Karl hadn't even known existed! And then poor Karl learned that Anna was only seventeen instead of twenty-five, and that she couldn't do a blame thing around the place. James acknowledged that Karl had taken it all better than most men would have.
    "What'd you think of him, Anna?" he asked quietly.
    "Oh, shut up and go to sleep!" she exclaimed in a choked voice. Then she buried her head in her arms to stifle a sob as she thought of the bald look of innocent expectation that had greeted her on Karl's face. And of how he had helped her down from the wagon at first, and offered to buy her anything she needed in the store. Oh, she liked him all right. But at the same time she was scared to death of him. He was, after all, a man.

                 Chapter Three

      "Father Pierrot, I must speak to you as a friend as much as a priest. I have a problem regarding Anna." The two had settled in Father's little sitting room at the rear of the school building, companionably smoking fragrant pipes of Indian tobacco.
    "Ah, Karl, I could tell you were troubled as soon as you arrived. Are you having last-minute thoughts?"
    "Ya, I am, but not in the way you might think." Karl sighed. "You know how many months it has taken to get Anna here. You know I have prepared a good home for her, and I have plans for an even better one. I have been much more than ready for a wife for some time now. All this time I have dreamed of her coming. But I think I have been a little foolish, Father. I dreamed her to be something she is not. I find out today she has lied to me about many things."
    "Was it not a risk you took, courting her by letter?"
    "Ya, a risk it was. But still, not a good way to begin married life. I think I do not want a wife who is a liar, yet I want a wife, and she is the only one available."
    "About what has she lied, my friend?"
    "The first is a lie of omission. This brother James was a complete surprise to me today. She did not tell me of him. I think she knew I would not want a lad of that age living with us when we are newly married."
    "Would you send them back because of this?"
    "I threatened to do just that, but I do not think I could stand the loneliness for another year while I try to find another wife. Forgive me, Father ... I should perhaps not speak of it, but I am already twenty-five years old. I have been alone since I left Sweden , two years already. I am eager to begin building a family. There have been times, especially in the winter when I am snowed in for days at a time with nobody for company when I ..." Karl cupped the bowl of his pipe in a big hand, rubbing the glossed wood with a large thumb, watching the slow curl of smoke rise from it. He remembered only too wrenchingly the emptiness of those winter nights.
    He looked up to find the eyes of his friend upon him, and laughing sheepishly, Karl leaned his elbow on a knee and rested his chin in his palm. "You know, Father, sometimes I bring the goat inside to keep her from freezing in the bad blizzards and so I have somebody to talk to. But poor Nanna, I think she grows tired of hearing her foolish master pining for human companionship."
    "I understand, Karl. You need not apologize for your needs. There is no dishonor in wanting a wife for long winter nights, and for beginning a family. Neither is there dishonor in wanting to begin married life with time to get