t and a heavy tread that Briskow returned to
his room. Ma took the announcement like a death blow, for it meant the
end of all her dreams, all her joyous games of "pretend." Her
mountains--those clean, green, friendly mountains that she loved with a
passion so intense that she fairly ached--those and her caves, her
waterfalls, her gypsy band, were to be taken from her. She was to be
banished, exiled.

She did not weep a great deal, but she seemed suddenly to grow older
and more bent. Listlessly, laboriously she began to pack, and her
husband noticed with a pang that her hands shook wretchedly.

As for Allie, she told herself that this was the end. She had tried to
make something of herself and had failed. She had crucified herself;
she had bled her body and scourged her soul only to gain ridicule and
disgrace. There was no use of trying further; Gray had been mistaken in
her, and her misery, her shame at the realization was intolerable.
There was no facing him, after this.

Allie decided to do away with herself.

CHAPTER XV

Gus Briskow was waiting at the cashier's desk for his bill when the
bustle of incoming guests told him that the morning train had arrived.
Probably it had brought that "gentleman of importance" to whom the
manager had referred. "To hell with people like that manager!" the
Texan muttered. He would take his family back home and chance no more
humiliations like this. And to think that he had allowed that dancing
monkey to escape when he could have shot him as well as not!

Briskow's chain of thought was broken by a slap on the back that nearly
drove him through the cashier's window; then by a loud, cheery
greeting. The next moment he found himself actually embraced by--Gus
could not believe his eyes--by Calvin Gray!

The latter's affectionate greeting, his frank delight at seeing the
Texan, caused people in the lobby to center amused attention upon them,
and induced those behind the desk to regard Briskow with new respect.

"Gus! You precious pirate! My, but I'm glad to see you! Ma and Allie
are well, I know; they couldn't be otherwise here. Great place, isn't
it? Nothing in this country or Europe that compares with it, and I've
sent dozens of my friends here. I came north on business and couldn't
bear to go back without seeing you. Come! Give me a welcome, for I've
traveled across three states to get here."

The two stood hand in hand. Gray beamed approvingly. Gus, too, was
smiling, but