me. He was fond
of you. One could be proud of that. Harry Wyllard never did anything low
down and mean."

Agatha did not resent her candor. Although this was a thing she would
scarcely have credited a little while ago, she saw that the girl felt
the contrast between Gregory's character and that of the man whose place
he had taken, and regretted it. Agatha's eyes became dim with unshed
tears.

"Wyllard, they think, is dead," she said, in a low voice. "You have
Gregory still."

Sally looked at her with unveiled compassion, and Agatha did not shrink
from it.

"Yes," she declared, with a simplicity that became her, "and Gregory
must have someone to--take care of him. I must do it if I can."

There was no doubt that Agatha was stirred. This half-taught girl's
quiet acceptance of the burden that many women must carry made her
almost ashamed.

"We will leave it to you," she said.

It became evident that there was another side to Sally's character, for
her manner changed, and the hardness crept back into her face.

"Well," she admitted, "I'd 'most been expecting something of this kind
when I heard that man Edmonds was going to the Range. He has got a pull
on Gregory, but he's surely not going to feel quite happy when I get
hold of him."

She rose in another moment, and saying nothing further, walked back
toward the house, in front of which they came upon Mrs. Hastings. Sally
looked at Mrs. Hastings significantly.

"I'm going over to the Range after supper," she said.

Mrs. Hastings drove away with Agatha. She said little to the girl during
the journey, but an hour after they had reached the homestead she
slipped quietly into Agatha's room. She found her reclining in a big
chair sobbing bitterly. She sat down close beside her, and laid a hand
upon her shoulder.

"I don't think Sally could have said anything to trouble you like this,"
she said.

It was a moment or two before Agatha turned a wet, white face toward
her, and saw gentle sympathy in her eyes. There was, she felt, no cause
for reticence.

"No," she said, "it was the contrast between us. She has Gregory."

Mrs. Hastings showed sympathy and comprehension. "And you have lost
Harry--but I think you have not lost him altogether. We do not know that
he is dead--but even if it be so, it was all that was finest in him that
he offered you. It is yours still."

She sat silent a moment or two before she went on again.

"My dear, it is, perhaps, cold comfo