o with somebody else. There was
no need of Nan's making such a mystery about it. The somebody else was
her only cousin, Ned Bennett, who had had a quarrel with his own girl;
the latter lived at Lone Lake, and Ned had coaxed Nan to go over with
him and try her hand at patching matters up between him and his
offended lady-love. And Nan, who was an amiable creature and
tender-hearted where anybody's lover except her own was concerned, had
agreed to go.

But John Osborne at once jumped to the conclusion--as Nan had very
possibly meant him to do--that the mysterious somebody was Bryan Lee,
and the thought was gall and wormwood to him.

"Whom are you going with?" he asked.

"That would be telling," Nan said, with maddening indifference.

"Is it Bryan Lee?" demanded John.

"It might be," said Nan reflectively, "and then again, you know, it
mightn't."

John was silent; he was no match for Nan when it came to a war of
words. He scowled moodily at the shining tumblers.

"Nan, I'm going out west," he said finally.

Nan stared at him with her last tumbler poised in mid-air, very much
as if he had announced his intention of going to the North Pole or
Equatorial Africa.

"John Osborne, are you crazy?"

"Not quite. And I'm in earnest, I can tell you that."

Nan set the glass down with a decided thud. John's curtness displeased
her. He needn't suppose that it made any difference to her if he took
it into his stupid head to go to Afghanistan.

"Oh!" she remarked carelessly. "Well, I suppose if you've got the
Western fever your case is hopeless. Would it be impertinent to
inquire why you are going?"

"There's nothing else for me to do, Nan," said John, "Bryan Lee is
going to foreclose the mortgage next month and I'll have to clear out.
He says he can't wait any longer. I've worked hard enough and done my
best to keep the old place, but it's been uphill work and I'm beaten
at last."

Nan sat blankly down on the stool by the window. Her face was a study
which John Osborne, watching old Abe's movements, missed.

"Well, I never!" she gasped. "John Osborne, do you mean to tell me
that Bryan Lee is going to do that? How did he come to get your
mortgage?"

"Bought it from old Townsend," answered John briefly. "Oh, he's within
his rights, I'll admit. I've even got behind with the interest this
past year. I'll go out west and begin over again."

"It's a burning shame!" said Nan violently.

John looked around in time to se