blood rise to her face. It was an unpleasant thing to
admit, but she fancied that Gregory might yield to judicious pressure
when he would not be influenced by either compassion or a sense of
equity. It flashed upon her that had Mrs. Hastings believed that she
still retained any tenderness for the man, the story of Moran would not
have been told to her. The whole situation was horribly embarrassing,
but Agatha had courage in her.

"Well," she promised simply, "I will speak to him."

They said nothing more until they approached the Range, and as they
drove by the outbuildings Agatha glanced about her curiously. It
occurred to her that the homestead did not look quite the same as it
appeared when Wyllard was there. A wagon without one wheel stood near
the straw pile. A door of the barn hung awkwardly open in a manner which
suggested that it needed mending, and the snow had blown inside the
building. In the side of one sod and pole structure there was a gap
which should have been repaired. Several other things suggested
slackness and indifference. She saw Mrs. Hastings frown.

"There is a change in the place already," said her friend. They alighted
in another minute or two, and when they entered the house the
gray-haired Swedish woman greeted them moodily. She seemed to notice the
glance Mrs. Hastings cast around her, and her manner became deprecatory.

"I can't keep things straight now. It is not the same," she complained.

Mrs. Hastings asked if Hawtrey was in, and hearing that he was, turned
to Agatha. "Go along and talk to him. I've something to say to Mrs.
Nansen," she said.

CHAPTER XIX

THE PRIOR CLAIM

It was with confused feelings, among which a sense of repugnance
predominated, that Agatha walked toward Hawtrey's room. She was not one
of the women who take pleasure in pointing out another person's duty,
for, while she had discovered that this task is apparently an easy one
to some people, she was aware that a duty usually looks much more
burdensome when it is laid upon one's self. Indeed, she was conscious
just then that one might be shortly thrust upon her, which she would
find it very hard to bear, and she became troubled with a certain
compunction as she remembered how she had of late persistently driven
all thought of it out of her mind.

There was no doubt that she was still pledged to Gregory, and that she
had loved him once. Both facts had to be admitted, and it seemed to her
that if he i