He had not asked direct questions about her, but he would have to before he left.

There seemed some mystery always just before him.

The mail-driver would not be ready to go before noon, so Dorian would have time to get the tree and help the children decorate it.

Then he would have to find out all there was to know about Carlia.

Surely, she was somewhere in the locality.
After breakfast, Dorian found the axe in the wood-shed, and began to make his way through the deep snow up the hill toward a small grove of pine.