mes ridin' in with his
heart in his eyes to ask if she's better. I never see such devotion in
my born days! He's worn to a shadder with the worry over her, and it
hurts, I can tell you, to send him away lookin' like I'd hit him a blow
when I tell him there's no change. Love's a pretty-fierce thing
sometimes, ain't it?"

Love! Willa buried her face in the pillow and a little creeping warmth
stole through her veins. It was good to be alive, after all.

But he was still ignorant of the truth about that letter! At the
thought Willa's heart contracted and the quick, scalding tears of
weakness came to her eyes. He still believed that she had wantonly led
him on and trampled him beneath her feet in sheer joy of conquest. Oh,
she must become strong enough to tell him how sorry she was, to make
amends!

Now as she lay back in her chair, awaiting his coming in the cool of
the soft spring evening, the events of the past few months seemed very
far away and unreal, almost as though they might have been a dream born
of her fever. She could scarcely believe that she had ever left
Limasito; the climacteric weeks in New York, the trip to Topaz Gulch
and the later scene in Jim Baggott's hotel had alike faded into a
vague, nebulous shadow without substance or coherence, and she herself
seemed drifting. . . .

Again it was Sallie who brought her back to earth with a matter-of-fact
remark.

"I don't s'pose you know, or care either, that the Lost Souls is
producin' thousands of barrels a day since they struck that gusher.
You'll never miss the stock now that you gave to Mr. North and them
Halsteads to make up for what they lost on their own hook in the fake
company, though I did think you were a little fool at the time, Billie.
Served 'em good and right after the way they treated you."

Willa shook her head wearily.

"They were pretty decent, Sallie, and both Ripley Halstead and Mr.
North were always kind. I couldn't have let them suffer for a
mistake.--How is Tia Juana? You must let me see her the next time she
comes."

Sallie chuckled.

"She's buildin' a chapel to the lost souls who was drowned in that
pool, and she's bought a big, bright-yeller automobile! Jose's
learning from Dan how to drive it for her, when Dan gets time enough
off from his work with Mr. Thode. Since you gave him that stock in the
new Murdaugh-Reyes Company you can't hardly pry Dan Morrissey loose
from the oil business to eat.--Say, honey!" H