lch, the "dry"
ones in off nooks, or perched on breezy hills. To the best of these
latter the doctor drove, had the luck to find the owner still on duty,
and secured a room for himself. Then they drove to the home of Belle's
aunt, Mrs. Collins. One has to take a hotel on its rules; but a relative
may be called up and inconvenienced at any time.

"Well, Auntie, it's Belle Boyd. I want you to take care of me till the
morning. I will tell you all about it later," this to the inquiring head
that emerged from an upper window. So Belle was left and the doctor went
to his hotel.

Up very early next morning, Belle went at once to the stable of the
Temperance House. Yes, there he was, Blazing Star, in all his beauty.
Then she went into the hotel and mounted guard in the little parlour.
Dr. Carson came down and was sent to sit out of doors. At length the
sound of the foot she awaited came from the stairs and she heard the
landlady say:

"There's some one in the parlour waiting for you." For a moment there
was no sound; then the footsteps approached.

Belle was at the window looking out, partly hidden by the cheap lace
curtains. As the Preacher entered, she turned fully toward him. Her back
was to the light and he did not immediately perceive her. Then with a
gasp:

"Belle!" and, sinking into a chair, he covered his face with his hands.

She went to him, laid her hand on his shoulder, and stood there in
silence. The great broad shoulders began to shake under that soft touch.
There was no sound uttered for long, then, brokenly, his one refrain:
"Oh, Belle!"

She sat down beside him, and took his hand--the first time she had ever
done so--and waited in silence.

He wanted to tell her all, but found no words.

She said, "Never mind that now. Tell me what you are here for."

He tried again but in a wild, incoherent way. The sum of it all was that
he was "ruined, degraded, and lost. He would go down to the Big Cheyenne
and get a job as a cowboy."

"Now listen, Jim," she said. "You have made a bad mistake; but a man may
make one big, bad mistake and still be all right. It is the man that
goes on making a little mistake every day that is hopeless."

There was a long pause. Then she continued: "What is it you of all
people admire most in a man? Is it not courage to see things through, no
matter how black they look?"

In his then frame of mind Hartigan had expected drunkenness to be
singled out as the worst of all sins; th