.

He was there, just as she suspected. Through the gathering shadows he
could be seen leaning heavily against one of the upright posts, his
shoulders stooped, and his face set upon the west which was a fiery red.
Going softly along the tanbark path, and stopping within a pace of him,
she waited to see if he would turn; then asked:

"Were you watching the sunset?"

He answered "Yes," but it might have come from someone else, so little
did he seem to realize her presence.

"Was it beautiful?" she asked again.

"I don't know; I didn't see it."

"It is leaving a wonderful sky," she ventured, trying to come gracefully
to the things she wanted to say.

"Yes," he murmured, after another pause. "A kind of sky that makes me
sad--a sort of sadness very far from tears. I don't know what I mean;--I
don't reckon anyone knows what I mean!"

Her eyes did not leave their watchful gaze upon his shoulders. It might
have been that she expected to see him change again; to see him begin
another transformation back to the old Dale--for surely this was not the
schoolboy speaking now! And she wished he might come back, for then she
could talk to him. Again she was reminded of the precious minutes
passing. It would be easier to open with an attack.

"I shouldn't think you could be anything else but sad after the way
you've behaved," she said slowly, wondering if he would submit.

But he only murmured:

"I did all I could to pay the debt;--I thought I was doing my duty!"

If there were a qualm of conscience in the girl's heart she ruthlessly
murdered it, and evenly replied:

"Yes, I am proud of you for that. It was other things I meant."

He turned now, and slowly questioned her with his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't want you to know about Tusk, and when
you took me by surprise that way, I reckon I acted rough! Who'd
a-thought we were born enemies!--an' after all you've done to help me!
But I tried, Gawd knows I tried, to pay the debt!"

A wave of pity thrilled her, but her voice was proportionately accusing
as she said:

"All you've tried can not atone for what you did."

"I know," he buried his face in his hands. "That was ignorance, an' I'm
payin' for it by havin' you turn away an' snap my future like a fiddle
string! Oh, how could my hand a-struck yoh people--even in black
ignorance!"

Her mental claws, which had bared at the approach of this interview, now
softly began to find their padded coverings. The an