poken since she touched him. "_Sh-sh_--Mary Hope and her mother are
here, and they're both asleep. I--honey, we were so worried, when you
didn't come back. That note you sent didn't say a _thing_, and I was
afraid--And I was between the devil and the deep sea, honey. I
couldn't stay away from here, when I didn't know--and I couldn't leave
Hope there, and the women that came flocking when they heard the news
were just _cows_ for brains. And the old lady won't have a nurse and
she _wouldn't_ let me out of her sight--she keeps me singing about all
the time she's awake, or reciting poetry--Bobbie Burns, mostly, and
Scott. Would you ever _think_ she'd stand for Bobbie Burns? But I can
do it as Scotch as she can, and she likes it.

"So she wouldn't let me leave, and I couldn't stay--and I had Hugh
make up a bed in the spring wagon, and brought her over here. If you
and Hope are going to be married right away, the old lady will need to
be here, anyway. The doctor tried to talk hospital--he just _tried_.
The old lady can write now with her left hand so we can make it out,
and when he said hospital to her she--she almost swore.

"So it's all right, Lance, honey--my God, Lance, _what is it_? Have
you heard from Duke?" She broke down suddenly, and clutched him in a
way that reminded him poignantly of that dying man in the canyon. Her
whisper became sibilant, terrified. "_What is it?_ What has happened?
Lance, _tell_ me! Tom is here, and Al; they were here when we came,
to-day--"

Lance took a deep breath. Very gently he leaned and kissed her on the
forehead, reached back and pulled her hands away from his shoulders.

"It's nothing, Belle. I'm--tired. And you--you surprised me. Will it
waken them if I--clean up a little before I go to bed? I'll--be
careful." He forced his eyes, his lips, to smile at her. "Good girl,
Belle. I'm--you're a trump. Now go back to bed. Lance is on the
job--Lance won't leave again like that--he'll--settle down."

He sat down on the nearest chair and pulled off his boots. He made an
imperative gesture toward her bedroom, and Belle, giving him a
strange, searching look, went in and closed the door after her. He
gave a sigh of relief when she was gone, never dreaming how little he
had imposed upon her.

In his stocking feet he went to the kitchen, found hot water in the
teakettle, carried it to his room and shaved, cleansing his body
as well as he could from the dust of the trip without making any
sou