possible that the strange, middle-aged,
gray-haired, intellectual man, whose very language was at times
mysterious and unintelligible to her, and whose suggestion of power awed
her, might have touched some untried filial chord in her being. Although
she felt that, save for absolute freedom, she was little more to him
than she had been to her father, yet he had never told her she had
"no sense," that she was "a hindrance," and he had even praised her
performance of her duties. Eagerly as she looked for his coming, in
his actual presence she felt a singular uneasiness of which she was not
entirely ashamed, and if she was relieved at his departure, it none
the less left her to a delightful memory of him, a warm sense of his
approval, and a fierce ambition to be worthy of it, for which she would
have sacrificed herself or the other miserable retainers about her, as a
matter of course. She had driven Waya and the other squaws far along
the sparse tableland pasture in search of missing stock; she herself
had lain out all night on the rocks beside an ailing heifer. Yet, while
satisfied to earn his praise for the performance of her duty, for some
feminine reason she thought more frequently of a casual remark he had
made on his last visit: "You are stronger and more healthy in this
air," he had said, looking critically into her face. "We have got that
abominable alkali out of your system, and wholesome food will do the
rest." She was not sure she had quite understood him, but she remembered
that she had felt her face grow hot when he spoke,--perhaps because she
had not understood him.

His next visit was a day or two delayed, and in her anxiety she had
ventured as far as the highway to earnestly watch for his coming. From
her hiding-place in the underwood she could see the team and Jim Hoskins
already waiting for him. Presently she saw him drive up to the trail
in a carryall with a party of ladies and gentlemen. He alighted, bade
"Good-by" to the party, and the team turned to retrace its course. But
in that single moment she had been struck and bewildered by what
seemed to her the dazzlingly beautiful apparel of the women, and their
prettiness. She felt a sudden consciousness of her own coarse, shapeless
calico gown, her straggling hair, and her felt hat, and a revulsion
of feeling seized her. She crept like a wounded animal out of the
underwood, and then ran swiftly and almost fiercely back towards the
cabin. She ran so fast th