ut his consent. Ben couldn't pay back, and I told the
man I worked for what I had done. I offered to take any punishment the
law ordered and then to come back to his shop and work until I paid him
the last cent. The man forgave me, Ruth, and was willing to let me work
out my salvation; but there was one thing I had not counted on, and that
was family pride. When my father and mother learned what I had done they
asked me to leave town, change my name and never to come home again."

"Did they know you took the money for your brother?" Ruth queried.

Jim shook his head. "What was the use? My sin was just the same. I paid
the man back years ago, Ruth. Now can you forgive me?"

"I am sorry, Jim," Ruth answered kindly, but in a manner as remote from
him and his need as though she had been a thousand miles away. "I am
sure you will understand, but I must take back my promise. I can't be
the wife of a man who has done wrong, no matter how much he has
repented. Has no one ever known of what you did in all these years?"

"One man besides Joe Dawson, who is the nephew of the man from whom I
took the money," Jim returned. "He was John Ralston. I told him my story
a few days before he died and he left me the guardian of his little
girls, to manage their property until Jack is twenty-one." And this was
the only defense Jim Colter ever made for himself.

By and by he put Ruth down on the porch of the rancho and went away to
his tent for the night. In the morning he had gone from Rainbow Ranch to
attend to other business.

CHAPTER XXIV

FAREWELL TO THE RAINBOW RANCH

The coming of late September to the neighborhood of the ranch brought
with it a storm and heavy downpour of rain.

"The very clouds themselves weep at the thought of our departure from
the Rainbow Ranch," Jean exclaimed dramatically, pressing her piquant
nose against the rain-splashed window of the living room in the Lodge
and gazing out over the mist-dimmed fields.

"Does anybody know where Ruth is?" Jack inquired from a big sofa near
the fire, looking about their beloved sitting room with an expression of
unfailing affection. "She must be nearly worn out with packing and
getting us ready to start to New York to-morrow. I do wish she would
rest for a few minutes these days."

"Ruth has gone for a ride in the rain alone, Jack," Olive explained,
stooping over her friend and arranging her pillows. "She said she
thought it would do her more good than anyth