; Uncle Francis' will forbids it. But--take
the copy with you. I hope my wishes will be realized."

Doctor Carey held her hand long when he bade her good-by. In her clear
gray eyes he read a story that gave him infinite sorrow. Stooping down, he
put his arm gently about her shoulders and, drawing her to him, kissed her
once on her forehead, and once--just once--on her lips, and was gone.

They never met again. But those who knew her best in Cloverdale remember
yet that from the Maytime of that year, Miss Jane's face was glorified
with a light never there before.

Down at the creek, Doctor Carey saw a large man intently studying the bank
beyond the break in the railroad grade. Something made the doctor pass
slowly, for the figure appealed to his interest. Presently, the man turned
away and, climbing up to the National pike road before him, made his way
into town. As the last light of evening fell full upon him, it revealed to
Doctor Carey a very white face, and eyes that stared, as if seeing
nothing--even the bluff face and huge form of Darley Champers.

Two weeks later when Darley Champers gave Leigh Shirley the deed in her
own name to the Cloverdale Ranch, he said, in his bluff way:

"I'm sayin' nothin' against Jim Shirley, madam, when I say I hope you'll
keep this in your own name. Some day you'll know why. And I hope to Gawd
you'll prosper with it. It's cost more'n the money paid out for it to get
that quarter section of prairie out of the wilderness. Sorrow and
disappointment, bad management, and blasted hopes, and hard work, and
hate. But I reckon it's clean hands and a pure heart, as the Good Book
says, that you are usin' now. This money don't represent all it'll cost me
yet by a danged sight."

He bade her a hearty good-by and strode away.

The mortgage for the loan was given to Horace Carey, as agreed upon
between himself and Miss Jane Aydelot.

"If Leigh knows it's Aydelot money she might feel like she's taking what
should be Thaine's. Would the Aydelots feel the same if they knew it?"
Miss Jane had asked.

"The thing the Aydelots have never grieved for is this Ohio inheritance,"
Carey answered her. "Asher gave it up to live his life in his own way. If
you knew what a prince of a fellow he is, although he's only a Kansas
farmer, you would understand how that prairie ranch and the lure of the
sunflower have gripped him to the West,"

The day after the completion of the sale Dr. Carey went to the Big Wo