"You have brought me back to myself," he said. "Only a few seconds ago I
could think of nothing but what you had done for me. I think I was almost
as happy as a man could be, and now----"

Hetty laid her hand on his shoulder. "And now? Tell me, Larry."

"No," said the man. "You have plenty of troubles of your own."

The grasp of the little hand grew tighter, and when Grant looked up he saw
the girl smiling down on him half-shyly, and yet, as it were,
imperiously.

"Tell me, dear," she said.

Larry felt his heart throb, and his resolution failed him. He could see
the girl's eyes, and their compelling tenderness.

"Well," he said, huskily, "what I have dreaded has come. The men I have
given up everything for have turned against me. No, you must not think I
am sorry for what I have done, and it was right then; but they have
listened to some of the crazy fools from Europe and are letting loose
anarchy. I and the others--the sensible Americans--have lost our hold on
them, and yet it was we who brought them in. We took on too big a
contract--and I'm most horribly afraid, Hetty."

The light had almost gone, but his face still showed drawn and white and
Hetty bent down nearer him.

"Put your hand in mine, Larry," she said softly. "I have something to tell
you."

The man obeyed her, wondering, while a thrill ran through him as the
mittened fingers closed upon his own.

"Hetty," he said, "I have only brought trouble on everyone. I'm not fit to
speak to you."

"No," said the girl, with a throb in her voice. "You have only done what
very few other men would have dared to do, and many a better girl than I
am would be proud to be fond of you. Now listen, Larry. For years you were
ever so good to me, and I was too mean and shallow and selfish even to
understand what you were giving me. I fancied I had a right to everything
you could do. But come nearer, Larry."

She drew him closer to her, until his garments pressed the horse's flank
and the blanket skirt she wore, and leaned down still further with her
hand upon his shoulder.

"I found out, dear, and now I want you to forgive me and always love me."

The grasp on her hand became compelling, and she moved her foot from the
stirrup as the man's arm reached upwards towards her waist. Had she wished
she could not have helped herself; as she slipped from the saddle the arm
closed round her and it was several seconds before she and Grant stood a
pace apart, with tingling b