ung, but I can be kinder and more faithful
than any young man, and," here he slipped his arm round her waist, "I
guess all women want to be loved, don't they? Will you let me love you,
Loo, as my wife?"

The girl shrank away from him nervously. Perhaps the fact of being in a
buggy recalled her rides with George; or the caress brought home to
her the difference between the two men. However that may be, when she
answered, it was with full self-possession:

"I guess what you say's about right, and I like you. But I don't want to
marry--anyway not yet. Of course I'd like to help you, and I'd like
to live in New York; but--I can't make up my mind all at once. You must
wait. If you really care for me, that can't be hard."

"Yes, it's hard," Barkman replied, "very hard to feel uncertain of
winning the only woman I can ever love. But I don't want to press you,"
he added, after a pause, "I rely on you; you know best, and I'll do just
what you wish."

"Well, then," she resumed, mollified by his humility, "you'll go back
to Wichita this evenin', as you said you would, and when you return,
the day after to-morrow, I'll tell you Yes or No. Will that do?" and she
smiled up in his face.

"Yes, that's more than I had a right to expect," he acknowledged. "Hope
from you is better than certainty from any other woman." In this mood
they reached the homestead. Loo alighted at the gate; she wouldn't allow
Barkman even to get down; he was to go right off at once, but when he
returned she'd meet him. With a grave respectful bow he lifted his
hat, and drove away. On the whole, he had reason to be proud of his
diplomacy; reason, too, for saying to himself that at last he had got on
"the inside track." Still, all the factors in the problem were not seen
even by his keen eyes.

The next morning, Loo began to reflect upon what she should do. It did
not occur to her that she had somewhat compromised herself with the
lawyer by giving him leave, and, in fact, encouragement to expect a
favourable answer. She was so used to looking at all affairs from the
point of view of her own self-interest and satisfaction, that such an
idea did not even enter her head. She simply wanted to decide on what
was best for herself. She considered the matter as it seemed to her,
from all sides, without arriving at any decision. Barkman was kind, and
good to her; but she didn't care for him, and she loved George still.
Oh, why wasn't he like the other, always sympat