a shadow of
comfort.

The last button of her gloves had been secured when the refolding of
the letter came. Jeff deliberately, but abstractedly, returned it to
its cover. His smile was scarcely a happy one when he finally looked
up.

"I'm through, sweetheart," he said. "Shall we----?"

But Elvine's feelings would no longer be denied.

"Serious as all that?" she demanded. The next moment she would have
given worlds to have been able to recall the words.

"I'm afraid it is--in a way."

Elvine had no option but to continue the subject. She spoke with real
feeling.

"May I know, dear?" she appealed. "You see, Jeff, things often read
worse than they are. Maybe I can help. I've a clearer head than you'd
guess."

The man's cheeks flushed. He had distressed her, frightened her, and
the thought of it annoyed him. He stepped toward her, his hands
outheld. She responded, and her hands were caught in his firm warm
clasp.

"Say, I'm just sorry. I surely am. Guess I've no sort of right
scaring you. Anyway, there's nothing to be scared about. Just a bunch
of rustlers----"

"Cattle thieves?"

The woman's whole expression had become transformed. The announcement
had shocked her out of her self-possession. Her smile had fled. Her
eyes were wide, and their dark depths were full of a horror that seemed
quite uncalled for. Even her cheeks had lost their delicate bloom.
Her gaze was held fast by the man's steady regard. It was almost a
fascinated stare held under some powerful hypnotic influence.

The man was at a loss. But he promptly claimed the fault to himself.

"Don't just worry a thing, Evie," he cried, in real distress. "It
don't amount to anything. And anyway you don't need to worry. We can
deal with it. I best tell you right away. You see, it's their second
play since I've been from home. Bud's feeling sore. First it was a
great imported bull they shot up while they ran off his cows, and a
dandy bunch of yearling prize stock. Now--now it's a swell bunch of
fifty beeves that had been fattening for the buyers. The loss don't
hurt. Oh, no, it's not that."

He paused. Somehow their hands fell apart, and, to the woman, now
recovering herself, it was as though some shadow had thrust itself
between them. She waited, vaguely troubled. Somehow speech for the
moment had become impossible to her. She was thinking, thinking far
back amidst scenes she had no desire to recall.

Her husband