. "Been late a good deal lately."

Nan laid her hat on the table and, glancing composedly from one
suspicious face to the other, put her hands up to rearrange her hair.
"I'm going to try to do better. I'll go out and get my supper if
you've had yours." She started toward the dining-room.

"Hold on!" Nan paused at her uncle's ferocious command. She looked at
him either really or feignedly surprised, her expression changing to
one of indignation, and waited for him to speak. Since he did no more
than glare angrily at her, Nan lifted her brows a little. "What do you
want, uncle?"

"Where did you go this afternoon?"

"Over to Calabasas," she answered innocently.

"Who'd you meet there?" Duke's tone snapped with anger. He was working
himself into a fury, but Nan saw it must be faced. "The same people I
usually meet--why?"

"Did you meet Henry de Spain there this afternoon?"

Nan looked squarely at her cousin and returned his triumphant
expression defiantly before she turned her eyes on her uncle. "No,"
she said collectedly. "Why?"

"Do you deny it?" he thundered.

"Yes, I deny it. Why?"

"Did you see de Spain at Calabasas this afternoon?"

"No."

"See him anywhere else?"

"No, I did not. What do you mean? What," demanded his niece with
spirit, "do you want to know? What are you trying to find out?"

Duke turned in his rage on Gale. "There! You hear that--what have you
got to say now?" he demanded with an abusive oath.

Gale, who had been hardly able to refrain from breaking in, answered
fast. "What have I got to say?" he roared. "I say I know what I'm
talking about. I say she's lying, Duke."

Nan's face turned white with anger. Before she could speak her uncle
took up the words. "Hold on," he shouted. "Don't tell me she lies." He
launched another hot expletive. "I know she doesn't lie!"

Gale jumped forward, his finger pointed at Nan. "Look here, do you
deny you are meeting Henry de Spain all over the desert?"

Nan's anger supported her without a tremor. "Who are you to ask me
whom I meet or don't meet?"

"You've been meeting de Spain right along, haven't you? You met him
down the Sleepy Cat trail near Black Cap, didn't you?"

Nan stood with her back against the end of the table where her uncle's
first words had stopped her, and she looked sidewise toward her
cousin. In her answer he heard as much contempt as a girl's voice
could carry to a rejected lover. "So you've turned sneak!"

Gale roared a