had reached it the first
strength of the shower was spent, and there was only a light scattering
rain with a rift showing in the clouds over the mountains.

He deliberately passed the house, putting on more speed as he did so.

"But {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} I thought you were going to take me home," she said, putting a hand
on his arm.

"I'm not," he announced, without looking around. His hands and eyes were
fully occupied with his driving, but a great suspense held his breath. The
hand left his arm, and he heard her settle back in her seat with a sigh. A
great warm wave of joy surged through him.

He took the mountain road, which was a short cut between Old Town and the
mountains, seldom used except by wood wagons. Within ten minutes they were
speeding across the _mesa_. The rain was over and the clouds running
across the sky in tatters before a fresh west wind. Before them the
rolling grey-green waste of the _mesa_, spotted and veined with silver
waters, reached to the blue rim of the mountains--empty and free as an
undiscovered world.

He slowed his car to ten miles an hour and leaned back, steering with one
hand. The other fell upon hers, and closed over it. For a time they drove
along in silence, conscious only of that electrical contact, and of the
wind playing in their faces and the soft rhythmical hum of the great
engine.

At the crest of a rise he stopped the car and stood up, looking all about
at the vast quiet wilderness, filling his lungs with air. He liked that
serene emptiness. He had always felt at peace with these still desolate
lands that had been the background of most of his life. Now, with the
consciousness of the woman beside him, they filled him with a sort of
rapture, an ecstasy of reverence that had come down to him perhaps from
savage forebears who had worshipped the Earth Mother with love and awe.

He dropped down beside her again and without hesitation gathered her into
his arms. After a moment he held her a little away from him and looked
into her eyes.

"Why wouldn't you let me come to see you? Why did you treat me that way?"
he plead.

She dropped her eyes.

"They made me."

"But why? Because I'm a Mexican? And does that make any difference to
you?"

"O, I can't tell you.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} They say awful things about you. I don't believe
them. No; nothing about you makes any difference to me."

He held her close again.

"Then you'll go away with me?"

"Yes," she ans