to
borrow horses, and I'll hunt him down. I'll hunt him down while I've a
breath left in my body, sir," he went on, with rising passion. "I'll
pay him if it takes me my lifetime! Only lend me the horses, sir. It
is as much to your interest as mine, for he has robbed you before now;
your property is no more safe than any other man's. Let us combine to
fight him, to bring him down, to measure him his full measure, to send
him to hell, where he belongs. I'll do this----"

"Yes, while your mother and sister starve," put in the blind man,
drily. Then, as the fire of Archie's passion suddenly sank at the
cold, incisive words, and he remained silent and abashed, he went on,
in quiet, even tones, while his red eyes were focussed upon his
visitor's face with disconcerting directness, "No, no; go you--I won't
say 'home,' but go you to your mother and sister: look after them,
care for them, work for them. You owe that to them before any act of
vengeance be made. When you have achieved their comfort, you are at
liberty to plunge into any rashness you choose. I am no youngster,
Archie Orr, I am a man of years, who has seen, all my life, only
through a brain rendered doubly acute by lack of sight, and my advice
is worthy of your consideration. You have nothing more to fear from
Red Mask at present, but if you continue your headlong course you will
have; and, as far as I can make out, his hand is heavy and swift in
falling. Go back to your women-folk, I say. You can get no horses from
me for such a foolhardy purpose as you meditate."

Diane had watched her father closely, and as he finished speaking, she
moved toward the bereaved man and laid a hand upon his arm in gentle
appeal.

"Father is right, Archie. Go back to them, those two lonely,
broken-hearted women. You can do all for them if you will. They need
all that your kind, honest heart can bestow. It is now that you must
show the stuff you are made of."

Archie had turned away; but he looked round and mechanically glanced
down at the brown hand still resting upon his arm. The sight of it
held him for some moments, and when he raised his head a new look was
in his eyes. The sympathy in her tones, the gentle encouragement of
the few words she had spoken, had completed that which the sound but
unsympathetic advice of her father had begun.

His purpose had been the wild impulse of unstable youth; there was no
strength to it, no real resolution. Besides, he was a gentle-hearted