'I am not surprised! I knew when he went he would never come back
again. I believe it is this house that is a curse to us! I always
felt from the first night we entered it that it would bring us trouble;
and why I am to be the victim I don't know! I hate and loathe it!
Leave me alone. You needn't be afraid of my starving myself. I wish I
could; but I have got to live, and I shall have to drag through it as
best I can. There is no chance of my dying of a broken heart. People
never do. I shall outlive you all, I expect. What are you waiting
for? Do you want me to come downstairs?'

'No, I have some tea for you here.'

And Agatha disappeared, to bring in a dainty little meal on a tray.

As she put it down she said slowly: 'I wonder if you know where to take
your trouble, Clare? God Himself will comfort you, if you let Him.'

'You needn't waste your breath in uttering platitudes, Agatha. I know
that is the correct thing to say, but it doesn't do me an atom of
good.' And Agatha left her with a sigh, and went to her own room to
pray for her, and to ask that her trouble should soften, and not
harden, her heart against the only Comforter.

CHAPTER XII

Out in California

'A woman will, or won't, depend on't;
If she will do't, she will, and there's an end on't.'

On the wooden verandah of Walter Dane's ranch in Southern California
sat Gwen one evening, enjoying the orange-flamed sunset in front of
her. And lounging opposite her, smoking his pipe, was Walter--a
good-looking young fellow, whose usual expression was supreme
good-humour, but whose brow now was furrowed with anxious thought.

'You see, Gwen,' he said, knocking the ashes out of his pipe, and
ramming in a fresh supply of tobacco in a slow, meditative fashion, 'it
has been very good of you to come out and look me up. I've been
longing for a sight of my own flesh and blood for years, and if I was
only a sight better off, I'd offer you a home for good.'

'That I would not take, with many thanks,' said Gwen, laughing. 'Now
come, ever since I arrived I have seen you have had something on your
mind, so unburden! What is it?'

Walter looked across the great sweep of uncultivated ground outside his
ranch to the landmark of another ranch in the distance--a windmill
which pumped up the water necessary for use from a great depth below.

'You saw the Setons yesterday. What did you think of them?'

As he asked the question he pulled a