Potter Vane was chopping wood before the door . Mrs. Theodora recognizing in him a further obstacle to Marshall 's wooing , caught him unceremoniously by the arm and hauled him , axe and all , over the doorstone and into the kitchen , just as Bruce Marshall and Eben King drove into the yard with not a second to spare between them . There was a woeful cut on Bay Billy 's slender foreleg and the reeking Lady Jane was trembling like a leaf . The staunch little mare had brought her master over that stretch of sticky field road in time , but she was almost exhausted . Both men sprang from their sleighs and ran to the door . Bruce Marshall won it by foot-room and burst into the kitchen with his rival hot on his heels . Mrs. Theodora stood defiantly in the middle of the room , still grasping the dazed and dismayed Potter . In a corner Judith turned from the window whence she had been watching the finish of the race . She was pale and tense from excitement . In those few gasping moments she had looked on her heart as on an open book ; she knew at last that she loved Bruce Marshall and her eyes met his fiery gray ones as he sprang over the threshold . `` Judith , will you marry me ? '' gasped Bruce , before Eben , who had first looked at Mrs. Theodora and the squirming Potter , had located the girl . `` Yes , '' said Judith . She burst into hysterical tears as she said it and sat limply down in a chair . Mrs. Theodora loosed her grip on Potter . `` You can go back to your work , '' she said dully . She followed him out and Eben King followed her . On the step she reached behind him and closed the door . `` Trust a King for being too late ! '' she said bitterly and unjustly .
Eben went home with Bay XXXXX .
Billy Bruce Eben Jane Judith King Potter doorstone second sleighs