at her cabin, his face lighted.
He thought about the written resignation lying in his room, and he
smiled.

"I come mighty near not havin' to use it," he said to himself.

CHAPTER XXIV

REALIZING A PASSION

Ruth stood for a long time on the porch after Hagar's departure, gripped
by emotions, that had had no duplicates in all her days. Never before had
she thought herself capable of experiencing such emotions. For the man
she loved was in danger. She knew at this minute that she loved him, that
she had loved him all along. And she was not able to go to him; she could
not even learn, until Hagar returned, whether the girl had been in time,
or whether he had succumbed to the blind frenzy of the avenger. The
impotence of her position did much to aggravate her emotions, and they
surged through her, sapping her strength. It was hideous--the dread, the
uncertainty, the terrible suspense, the dragging minutes. She walked back
and forth on the porch, her hands clenched, her face drawn and white,
praying mutely, fervently, passionately, that Hagar might be in time.

Thinking to divert her mind, she at last went into the cabin and began to
walk about, looking at various objects, trying to force herself to take
an interest in them.

She saw, back of a curtain, a number of the dresses and other garments
she had given Hagar, and she could not disperse the thought that perhaps
if she had not given the clothing to Hagar, Masten might not have been
attracted to her. She drew the curtain over them with something near a
shudder, considering herself not entirely blameless.

She endeavored to interest herself in Catherson's pipe and tobacco, on a
shelf near the stove; wondering over the many hours that he had smoked in
this lonesome place, driving away the monotony of the hours. What a blow
this must be to him! She began to understand something of the terrible
emotions that must have seized him with the revelation. And _she_ had
brought Masten here, too! Innocent, she was to blame there! And she
unconsciously did something, as she walked about, that she had never
before attempted to do--to put herself into other persons' positions, to
try to understand their emotions--the motives that moved them to do
things which she had considered vicious and inhuman. She had forced her
imagination to work, and she succeeded in getting partial glimpses of the
viewpoints of others, in