s clerical as possible. He felt it was due himself and his work
that he should. He spoke of the people he had met in Arizona as a kind
of tamed savages, and Mrs. Tanner, sitting behind her coffee-pot for a
moment between bustles, heard his comments meekly and looked at him with
awe. What a great man he must be, and how fortunate for the new teacher
that he should be there when she came!

Margaret drew a breath of relief as she hurried away from the
breakfast-table to her room. She was really anticipating the ride to the
school with Bud. She liked boys, and Bud had taken her fancy. But when
she came down-stairs with her hat and sweater on she found West standing
out in front, holding the horse.

"Bud had to go in another direction, Miss Earle," he said, touching his
hat gracefully, "and he has delegated to me the pleasant task of driving
you to the school."

Dismay filled Margaret's soul, and rage with young Bud. He had deserted
her and left her in the hands of the enemy! And she had thought he
understood! Well, there was nothing for it but to go with this man, much
as she disliked it. Her father's daughter could not be rude to a
minister.

She climbed into the buckboard quickly to get the ceremony over, for her
escort was inclined to be too officious about helping her in, and
somehow she couldn't bear to have him touch her. Why was it that she
felt so about him? Of course he must be a good man.

West made a serious mistake at the very outset of that ride. He took it
for granted that all girls like flattery, and he proceeded to try it on
Margaret. But Margaret did not enjoy being told how delighted he was to
find that instead of the loud, bold "old maid" he had expected, she had
turned out to be "so beautiful and young and altogether congenial"; and,
coolly ignoring his compliments, she began a fire of questions again.

She asked about the country, because that was the most obvious topic of
conversation. What plants were those that grew by the wayside? She found
he knew greasewood from sage-brush, and that was about all. To some of
her questions he hazarded answers that were absurd in the light of the
explanations given her by Gardley two days before. However, she
reflected that he had been in the country but a short time, and that he
was by nature a man not interested in such topics. She tried religious
matters, thinking that here at least they must have common interests.
She asked him what he thought of Christian