He was nothing to her; and never could have been; and
this rejection was not the less disagreeable because he had expected it.
It is difficult to imagine any circumstances in which a man will accept
without resentment the idea that he is a negligible figure in a woman's
life. The finer his nature the greater his astonishment at finding that
she is able to complete her reckoning without including him as a factor
in her calculations. And in Kirkwood's case the woman had put him in the
wrong when all the right was so incontrovertibly on his side. She had
taken high ground for her refusal, and he could not immediately
accommodate himself to the air of this new altitude, which he had never
expected to breathe in her company. Her thistledown nature might be the
prey of the winds, but even so they might bear her high and far.

"I must go on and finish, for there will never be another chance. You
deserve the best life can give you. I'm glad to know things have been
going well with you; and Amzi says it's only the beginning. With all my
heart I'm glad. It makes it easier for me--don't you see! And I know
about Nan Bartlett; not from Phil, but from Mrs. King. I hope you will
marry Nan; and if my coming has made any difference, don't let that
trouble you! In a little while I shall be gone; but Phil mustn't know
that. And I shall never come back here--you may rely on that; but I hope
to have Phil come to me now and then. I want to keep in touch with
her,--have some part in her life. And you needn't fear that I shan't
be--quite a proper person for Phil to visit! You will believe that,
won't you?"

"Yes, Lois," he said wonderingly; for he was touched by the wistfulness
of her plea that he should not fear her influence upon Phil. "You
wouldn't have come back to Phil unless you felt you had a right to; I'm
sure of that," he said with warmth.

"No; I should not have been base enough for that," she replied, with a
little forlorn sigh.

"And as for your going away, it must not be on my account. It isn't
necessary for you to go."

He did not speak of Nan; nor did she refer to her again.

"I'm glad this has happened this way. I think we understand a little
better. Good-night, Tom!"

"Good-night, Lois!"

Their hands touched. He saw the flutter of her cloak as she passed round
the house, seeking the path to Amzi's. The garden was very still when
she had gone.

CHAPTER XXV

PHIL ENCOUNTERS THE SHERIFF

The May number of