long succession of shocks, so
that it seemed nothing the future held could thrill him, amaze him,
torment him. And yet how well he knew that his heart was only the more
responsive for all it had withstood! Perhaps here at White Slides he
might meet with an experience dwarfing all others. It was possible; it
was in the nature of events. And though he repudiated such a
possibility, he fortified himself against a subtle divination that he
might at last have reached the end of his long trail, where anything
might happen.

Three of the hounds lay down at Wade's feet. Kane, the bloodhound, stood
watching this new master, after the manner of a dog who was a judge of
men. He sniffed at Wade. He grew a little less surly.

Wade's gaze, however, was on the path that led down along the border of
the brook to disappear in the willows. Above this clump of yellowing
trees could be seen the ranch-house. A girl with fair hair stepped off
the porch. She appeared to be carrying something in her arms, and
shortly disappeared behind the willows. Wade saw her and surmised that
she was coming to his cabin. He did not expect any more or think any
more. His faculties condensed to the objective one of sight.

The girl, when she reappeared, was perhaps a hundred yards distant. Wade
bent on her one keen, clear glance. Then his brain and his blood beat
wildly. He saw a slender girl in riding-costume, lithe and strong, with
the free step of one used to the open. It was this form, this step that
struck Wade. "My--God! how like Lucy!" he whispered, and he tried to
pierce the distance to see her face. It gleamed in the sunshine. Her
fair hair waved in the wind. She was coming, but so slowly! All of Wade
that was physical and emotional seemed to wait--clamped. The moment was
age-long, with nothing beyond it. While she was still at a distance her
face became distinct. And Wade sustained a terrible shock.... Then, as
one in a dream, as in a blur of strained peering into a maze, he saw the
face of his sweetheart, his wife, the Lucy of his early manhood. It
moved him out of the past. Closer! Pang on pang quivered in his heart.
Was this only a nightmare? Or had he at last gone mad! This girl raised
her head. She was looking--she saw him. Terror mounted upon Wade's
consciousness.

"That's Lucy's face!" he gasped. "So help--me, God!... It's for this--I
wandered here! She's my flesh an' blood--my Lucy's child--my own!"

Fear and presentiment and blank amaz