son would not be living."

"We shall thank Mr. Clifford also. And we shall not forget either of
you."

She went back into the little stone house and a few minutes later,
Clifford and Paul had the horses headed down by the Oraibi Wash, bound
for Tolchaco.

All through that day's drive Helen Douglas hardly said a word, even to
her mother. She was going over the strange experiences which had become
a part of her life since she had come into this desert land. The scenes
at Oraibi would never become dim in her memory, and especially those
which had occurred during the last two days.

Her probing of her feelings in the analysis she was somewhat fond of
making of herself resulted in a complete reversion of her attitude
towards Ross Van Shaw. She said to herself she dated that change of
thought from his words and actions that morning, and especially on
account of his brutal attempt to "get even," as he said, with Bauer.
Even allowing a great deal for his action as due to his mental and
physical condition, the whole thing, Helen now felt sure, was an
indication of his general character. He had been caught for a little
while off his guard, and in that time, Helen had seen him as he was. And
the vision she had caught of his perverted heart and mind was not a
pleasant vision. She even shuddered at herself as, with burning face,
she recalled how near she had come, on such brief and slight
acquaintance, to giving herself to such a life, lured in great part by
the glamour of that golden mirage into which so many of earth's brave
and beautiful souls have hastened, only to find its sparkling waters to
be nothing but dust and its promise of luscious delights of the senses,
nothing but the dead sea fruit of bitter disappointment.

It should be said in all honest judgment of Helen's experiences at this
time, that the girl's final rejection of all thought of Van Shaw (who,
before she had reached Milton, passed out of her history), was due to
more than the revulsion she felt over his words in the little stone
house at Oraibi. It was due as much to her mother's counsel, and in
fact, to the entire atmosphere of a healthy, happy home life which she
had always known, and in which Esther had trusted for the final outcome
of Helen's choices. So that what seemed to her at that time to be a
sudden act due to an accidental revelation of character, was, as a
matter of fact, due to a life long training in a home which had
established in the fibr