as restless and discontented, and I would have a contempt for myself
that I don't believe ever would leave me.

"When people live alone a lot they get to know themselves--the way their
minds work, their moods and the causes, their dispositions; and I know
that whether my judgment is right or wrong I've got to follow the trail
stretching away before me until I've reached my destination."

"What is it you want to do, Kate? Why can't I help you?"

"I want success--money! It's the only weapon for a woman in my position.
Without it she's as helpless as though her hands were shackled and left
a target for every one who chooses to throw a stone at her. It's an
obsession with me. I've sworn to win out here, by myself, single-handed;
it's a vow as sacred as an oath to me! It means time, patience,
hardships and more hardships; and after this I'm going to suffer because
you've shown me what I'm turning my back on. But no matter," fiercely,
"I can crucify myself, if necessary!"

"It isn't yet clear to me why success means so much to you," he said,
bewildered.

"Because," she cried, "soon after you left I went through purgatory for
that want of money, and because I was nobody--because I was 'Mormon
Joe's Kate,' accused of murder, and the daughter of 'Jezebel of the Sand
Coulee,' and have nobody for a father!"

"Why didn't you ask me to come when I telegraphed you!"

"I didn't dare--I was afraid to test you. If you, too, had failed me, it
would have crushed me. Perhaps all this sounds absurd and melodramatic,
but I can't help it.

"You know, everybody has some little quirk in his brain that makes him
different--some trait that isn't quite normal. I've come to watch for
it, and it's always there, even in the most commonplace people. It's the
quirk which, when accentuated, makes religious fanatics, screaming
suffragists and anarchists. My 'twist' takes the form of an
uncontrollable desire to retaliate upon those who have deliberately,
through sheer cruelty and without any personal reason for their
animosity, gone out of their way to hurt me."

That was it, then--she had been hurt--terribly!

Her eyes were like steel, her voice trembled with the intensity of the
passion that shook her as she continued:

"I hate them in Prouty! I can't conceive of any other feeling towards
the town or its inhabitants. I don't suppose it will ever come in my way
to pay in full the debt I owe them, but I can at least by my own efforts
rise abo