his fellow men in self-defense, but, to his proud
nature, it was difficult to stand up under the knowledge of a disgrace
which was not his due.

He was within a few miles of Barnriff when his mind suddenly lurched
into a fresh channel of thought. With that roving, groping after a
clue to the crime of which he was morally accused, Eve suddenly grew
into his focus. He thought with a shudder what it would have meant to
her had she married him instead of Will. He tried to picture her brave
face, while she writhed under the taunts of her sex, and the meaning
glances of the men-folk. It was a terrible picture, and one that
brought beads of perspiration to his brow.

It was a lucky--yes, in spite of Will's defections--thing for her she
had married the man she did. Besides, Will had mended his ways. He had
kept to the judgment that Peter Blunt had passed on him. Well, he
would have the laugh now.

Then there was Will's success. Everything had gone his way. Fortune
had showered her best on him, whether he deserved it or not. She
apparently found no fault in him. And they said he was turning out
thousands of dollars. But there, it was no use thinking and wondering.
The luck had all gone Will's way. It was hard--devilish hard.

Poor Eve! He caught himself pitying her. No, he had no right to pity
her. The pity would have been had she married him. And yet--perhaps
this would never have happened had she married him. No, he told
himself, it would never, could never have happened then. For, in the
fact of having won her, would not his luck have been the reverse of
what it was?

Suddenly he wondered what she would think when he told her--or when
others told her, as, doubtless by this time, they had already done. He
shuddered. She was in a cattle country. She was ingrained with all
its instincts. Would she condemn him without a hearing? When he went
to speak to her, would she turn from him as from something unclean?
Again the sweat broke out at his thought. She might. The facts were
deadly against him. And yet--and yet somehow---- No, he dared not
speculate; he must wait.

There was the humble little village on ahead of him, nestling like
some tiny boat amidst the vast rollers of the prairie ocean. There,
ahead, were his judges, and amongst them the woman who was still more
to him than his very life. He must face them, face them all. And when
their verdict was pronounced, as he knew it would be in no uncertain
manner, then, with