r between them for just one break. He would not, could
not believe that. It was true enough that he had aroused her passionate
and violent anger, but the more violent the anger the sooner it will
evaporate, and strange and complex as the Pearl was, she was yet a
woman; and no woman on earth could long hold resentment against the man
she loved. She had, he was able to convince himself, regretted her mad
action in first threatening and then riding away from him long before
she had reached home; and, without doubt, it was only that high and
haughty pride of hers which kept her from returning to him before she
had traversed half the distance. But the course of action he had decided
upon was sure to win. He would give her a few hours to get over her
anger, to regret it and to reproach herself for causing him pain, and
then he would give her a little more time to long and ache for him to
return to her. He would wait until evening, and then he would go boldly
to the Gallito house and, no matter what efforts were made to frustrate
their meeting, he would see her alone. Ah, and she would fly to him, if
he knew her aright. All the opposition in the world could not keep them
apart, it would only strengthen her determination. And then, how he
would beg her forgiveness, how he would plead his love, with passionate
and irresistible eloquence; and, if he knew the heart of woman, she
would yield.

But when the moment came for acting upon this decision he found that it
took a certain amount of courage, considerable, in fact, to face not
only a woman who had left him in hot anger that morning, but a gnarled
and thorny father and also the soft-spoken Bob Flick; and he decided to
stop at Pete's place and brace up his courage with a drink.

Jimmy could hardly wait to serve him. He was like a busy and important
bird, hopping about on a bough and, literally, he twittered with
excitement.

"Well," he exclaimed, "where you been keeping yourself, and why wasn't
you down to see 'em off?"

A cold chill ran over Hanson. His impulse was to cry, "Who? What do you
mean?" But with an effort he resisted the inclination. Resolutely, he
held himself in check, and, although the hand with which he lifted the
glass to his lips trembled a little, he drank off the whisky before he
spoke.

"Couldn't make it," he said. "Who went beside--" he paused inviting
Jimmy's further confidence.

"Just Pearl and her father," returned Jimmy volubly. "I guess that was