k at the horse, did he? If he had chanced at that instant to
glance at her he would have seen a pair of blue eyes blazing with
wrath.

The two men came hurrying from the creek.

"Here, Curly!" said Haig, resigning his post. "Miss Gaylord has hurt
her ankle. I found her unseated down the road yonder." He paused, as
if to let that be thoroughly understood. "I want you to hitch up the
sorrels and drive her home."

"Right!" responded Curly, going into the stable.

Marion then did almost faint. She had not foreseen that manoeuver.

"I'd rather not, please," she said, as sweetly as she could in her
dismay.

"Rather not what?" asked Haig, turning at last to her.

"I'd rather rest a while--somewhere--" Her glance went past him in the
direction of the cottage. "Then I can ride home--alone."

"And tumble off in the road somewhere!" he retorted, with a touch of
derision in his tone.

"Oh, no!" she pleaded. "It's not as bad as that."

"No matter! I can't allow you to take any chances," he insisted
curtly.

"Really, I need only a little rest," she persisted. "If I could lie
down a few minutes--" her eyes again were turned toward the cottage.

He saw what she meant, and frowned.

"No!" he snapped. Then, checking himself, "I don't mean to be
inhospitable, but you ought to know that's impossible."

"You mean--Cousin Seth?"

He shot a look at her that frightened her, but gratified her too. Was
she rousing him at last?

"Yes, if you like," he said, quietly enough. "I'm having a hard enough
time with the fool without a woman being mixed up in the affair."

"I don't understand," said Marion.

"You don't understand!" he repeated. "Of course not. Women never
understand--until afterwards. I'll make it plainer. I'm a bad man, as
you have doubtless heard. What would Paradise Park say when it learned
that you had been inveigled into my house?"

She was silent a moment.

"Well then, let me sit here and rest!" she insisted.

"But why?" he demanded impatiently.

She took her courage in both hands, and plunged.

"I want to talk to you," she said eagerly. "I want to ask you if there
is no way--"

"Excuse me!" he broke in. "I don't want you to talk to me. If I
did--"

He stopped, with a shrug. Marion felt her face reddening, but she
dissembled her embarrassment.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "You're not afraid of me, are you?"

It was spoken archly, in her most playful, most kittenish manner, and
so she was amazed to see h