They carried their burden into another room, and I waited beside the
stove, with two faces stamped on my memory. The one was that of the
wounded man with its contraction of pain and glassy stare, and the other
the countenance of Grace Carrington transfigured for a moment by a great
pity that added to its loveliness. Still, the coming of this unexpected
guest cast a gloom upon us, and we seldom saw Grace, while Ormond, who
seemed to know a little of everything, once said on passing: "I have fixed
him up as well as I could, but I think a broken rib has pierced his lung,
and he's sinking rapidly. However, Miss Carrington is doing her best, and
he could not have a more efficient nurse."

It was late in the afternoon when, on tapping at the door in search of
tidings, Ormond called me in. The daylight was fading, but I could see the
limp, suffering shape on the bed, and Grace sitting near the window,
leaning forward as though listening.

"Light-headed at times!" said Ormond; "but he was asking for you. Do you
feel any easier now? Here's another inquirer anxious to hear good news of
you."

The man turned his drawn face toward me, and tried to smile as he said: "I
guess you're very good. Hope you don't bear malice. You oughtn't to
anyhow--nearly broke my neck when you fired me through the doorway. All in
the way of business, and I'm corralled now."

I bent my head with a friendly gesture, for even I could read death in his
face, and the outlaw, glancing toward Grace, added:

"If I'd known you, Missy, we'd never have held up this homestead. White
people all through, and you're a prairie daisy. What made me do it? Well,
I guess that's a long story, and some of it might scare you. A big man
froze me off my land, and some one rebranded my few head of stock. Law! we
don't count much on that; it's often the biggest rascals corral the
offices, and we just laid for them with the rifle. They were too many for
us--and this is the end of it."

Grace moved toward him whispering something I could not catch, but the man
smiled feebly, and I heard the grim answer:

"No; I guess it's rather too late for that. I lived my own way, and I can
die that way too. Don't back down on one's partners; kind of mean, isn't
it? And if it's true what you're saying I'll just accept my sentence.
Going out before the morning; but I sent two of the men who robbed me to
perdition first."

Ormond raised his hand for silence, and again I could hear the shri