one who calmly accepts the inevitable.

By that time the horseman had halted and nodded. He dismounted and threw
his rein over a picket, then from the stile he accosted Thornton: "Ken,
I reckon ye knows me," he said, "an' I reckon ye knows what brought me."

Parish went forward, but before he reached the stile he turned and in a
level voice said, "Dorothy, this hyar man's Jake Beaver. He's ther
high-sheriff--from over in Virginny ... I reckon he seeks ter take me
back."

Dorothy stood with all her pliant sinews inordinately tensed; with her
deep eyes wide and terrified, yet voiceless of any outburst or
exclamation, and near her, ill at ease, but seeking to treat the affair
as an inescapable matter of business, and consequently a commonplace,
the sheriff shifted his weight from foot to foot, and fanned himself
with his hat.

The exact wording of the warrant was after all of no particular
consequence. The announcement of its purport had carried all its
necessary significance. Yet, before he spoke again, Kenneth Thornton,
also known as Parish Thornton and as Cal Maggard--these names being
included in the document as aliases--read it from preamble to signature
and seal at the end.

Then he inquired: "How come ye ter diskiver wh'ar I was at, Jake?"

The officer shook his head. "Thet's a question I hain't got ther power
ter answer ye, Ken. Somebody over thar got tidin's somehow and drapped a
hint ter ther Commonwealth's Attorney."

With a nod of comprehension the man who was wanted accepted that
explanation. He had not expected a fuller one.

Then, turning, he complied with the demands of courtesy. "Dorothy," he
asked, "hain't ye goin' ter invite Jake ter come in an' eat him some
dinner?"

The woman had not spoken. For her, stoic-bred though she was, it was
impossible to separate calmly the personal side of this stranger from
the abstract and menacing thing for which he stood. Now she gulped down
a hot and inhospitable impulse of refusal and said briefly to her
husband, "_You_ kin invite him ef ye've a mind ter, Cal. _I_ won't."

The officer flushed in embarrassment. Sheriffs, like bloodhounds, are
frequently endowed with gentle natures, and this mission was not of
Beaver's own choosing. It was a pursuit he followed with nothing of the
sportsman's zest.

"I reckon I mout es well git over an' done with all ther onpleasant jobs
I've got on hand," he announced, awkwardly, "air ye willin' ter waive
extradition, Ken,