and she seized it
by the bottom and turned out its contents--a score or more of
twenty-dollar gold pieces.

"Take them," she said as he hesitated. And, not waiting for him to
act, she began to gather them up. She was nervous, though, and dropped
many of them several times, so that he felt that time would have been
gained if she had not touched them. He returned them to the bag, with
her help, and placed the bag in a pocket of his trousers. Then once
more he said good-by to her.

This time, however, she stood between him and the door, and when he
tried to step around her she changed her position so as to be always in
front of him.

"Tell me where you are going?" she said.

"What do you want to know for?" he demanded.

"Just because," she said; "because I want to know."

His eyes lighted with a deep fire as he looked at her. She was very
close to him; he felt her warm breath; saw her bosom heave rapidly, and
a strange intoxication seized him.

"Shall I tell you?" he said, with sudden hoarseness, as though asking
himself the question. He grasped her by the shoulders and looked
closely at her, his eyes boring, probing, as though searching for some
evidence of duplicity in hers. For an instant his gaze held. Then he
laughed, softly, self-accusingly.

"I thought you was stringin' me--just for a minute," he said. "But
you're true blue, an' I'll tell you. I'm goin' first to the Arrow to
hand the Taggarts their pass-out checks. Then I'm hittin' the breeze
to Durango. If you ever want me, send for me there, an' I'll come back
to you, sheriff or no sheriff."

She put out a hand to detain him, but he seized it and pressed it to
her side, the other with it. Then his arms went around her shoulders,
she was crushed against him, and his lips met hers.

Then she was suddenly released, and he was at the door.

"Good-by," he said as he stood in the opening, the glare of light from
the lamp showing his face, pale, the eyes illumined with a fire that
she had never seen in them; "I'm sorry it has to end this way--I was
hopin' for somethin' different. You've made me almost a man."

Then the door closed and he was gone. She stood by the table for a few
minutes, holding tightly to it for support, her eyes wide from
excitement.

"Oh," she said, "if I could only have kept him here a few minutes
longer!"

She walked to the door and stood in the opening, shading her eyes with
her hands. He had not been gone long,