ed her. And then, as his
arm went around her waist, familiarly, he whispered:

"How is my little woman today?"

She straightened and looked up at him, perplexity in her eyes.

"Rex Randerson was just hyeh," she said. "I wanted to tell him about you
wantin' me to marry you. But I thought of what you told me, an' I didn't.
Do you sure reckon he'd kill you, if he knowed?"

"He certainly would," declared Masten, earnestly. "No one--not even your
father--must know that I come here to see you."

"I reckon I won't tell. But Miss Ruth? Are you sure she don't care for
you any more?"

"Well," he lied glibly; "she has broken our engagement. But if she knew
that I come here to see you she'd be jealous, you know. So it's better
not to tell her. If you do tell her, I'll stop coming," he threatened.

"It's hard to keep from tellin' folks how happy I am," she said. "Once, I
was afraid Rex Randerson could see it in my eyes--when he took a-hold of
my arms hyeh, an' looked at me."

Masten looked jealously at her. "Looked at you, eh?" he said. "Are you
sure he didn't try to do anything else--didn't _do_ anything else? Like
kissing you, for instance?"

"I'm certain sure," she replied, looking straight at him. "He used to
kiss me. But he says I'm a woman, now, an' it wouldn't be square to kiss
me any more." Her eyes had drooped from his.

"An' I reckon that's right, too, ain't it?" She looked up again, not
receiving an answer. "Why, how red your face is!" she exclaimed. "I ain't
said nothin' to hurt you, have I?"

"No," he said. But he held her tightly to him, her head on his shoulder,
so that she might not see the guilt in his eyes.

CHAPTER X

THE LAW OF THE PRIMITIVE

Randerson continued his policy of not forcing himself upon Ruth. He went
his way, silent, thoughtful, attending strictly to business. To Ruth,
watching him when he least suspected it, it seemed that he had grown more
grim and stern-looking since his coming to the Flying W. She saw him,
sometimes, laughing quietly with Uncle Jepson; other times she heard him
talking gently to Aunt Martha--with an expression that set her to
wondering whether he were the same man that she had seen that day with
the pistol in hand, shooting the life out of a fellow being. There were
times when she wavered in her conviction of his heartlessness.

Since Ruth had announced her decision not to marry Masten until after t