ed my life to meet
the new conditions. But other and more serious difficulties soon arose.
With Ralph Buckner possession seemed to be enough. I have seen him
scheme for months to secure some high-bred horse or a fancy breed of
cattle, and after they became his property hardly care whether he ever
saw them again. So it was with his wife. Within six months he resumed
his fortnightly visits to Colorado Springs on alleged business, from
which he always returned worn out and ill-tempered. Until we were
married, I had no idea that his life on the ranch and his life in
Colorado Springs were so distinctly apart, but I was soon to learn it
with bitter clearness."

As the story progressed Alice could feel the increasing tenseness.
Eleanor had herself well in hand, but the occasional break in her voice
evidenced the strain.

"There was a so-called club in Colorado Springs whose members included
the wildest young men of the town and several of the younger ranchmen
who were able to stand the pace. In this Ralph was a leading spirit,
drinking and gambling with that abandon which was his dominant
characteristic. 'Buckner is a poor gambler but a good loser,' one of
them is reported to have said, but that only meant that Ralph succeeded
in concealing his real feelings until he reached home; for it was his
wife who received the full force of the reaction as his brain cleared
from the fumes of the liquor and he came to a realization of his
losses."

She paused and looked at her companion, and encouraged by Alice's rapt
attention continued:

"Our baby was born a year after we were married--"

"I never knew of that," the girl said, quietly.

"Don't," was the reply; "I can't go on if you weaken me by your
sympathy."

"Forgive me, dear Eleanor," Alice murmured.

"By that time every remnant of a tie which held us together had
disappeared. The child, however, was a real link, and for a little while
gave us something to think of besides ourselves. For a year, perhaps,
Ralph went less frequently to Colorado Springs, and I came to think that
we might possibly be able to continue our lives together for the child's
sake. But the novelty wore off from this new plaything, as it had from
the others, though it lasted longer than anything else ever had, and
then Ralph's absences from the ranch became more and more frequent and
of longer duration. I cared little for this, as it enabled me to take
Carina to my father's ranch, where I forgot for