on. I knew how
old you was, even to your birthday."

"That doesn't change the fact that I'm two years older."

"What of it? If it counted for anything, I wouldn't be lovin' you, would
I? Your mother was dead right. Love's the big stuff. It's what counts.
Don't you see? I just love you, an' I gotta have you. It's natural, I
guess; and I've always found with horses, dogs, and other folks, that
what's natural is right. There's no gettin' away from it, Saxon; I gotta
have you, an' I'm just hopin' hard you gotta have me. Maybe my hands
ain't soft like bookkeepers' an' clerks, but they can work for you, an'
fight like Sam Hill for you, and, Saxon, they can love you."

The old sex antagonism which she had always experienced with men seemed
to have vanished. She had no sense of being on the defensive. This was
no game. It was what she had been looking for and dreaming about. Before
Billy she was defenseless, and there was an all-satisfaction in the
knowledge. She could deny him nothing. Not even if he proved to be
like the others. And out of the greatness of the thought rose a greater
thought--he would not so prove himself.

She did not speak. Instead, in a glow of spirit and flesh, she reached
out to his left hand and gently tried to remove it from the rein. He did
not understand; but when she persisted he shifted the rein to his right
and let her have her will with the other hand. Her head bent over it,
and she kissed the teamster callouses.

For the moment he was stunned.

"You mean it?" he stammered.

For reply, she kissed the hand again and murmured:

"I love your hands, Billy. To me they are the most beautiful hands in
the world, and it would take hours of talking to tell you all they mean
to me."

"Whoa!" he called to the horses.

He pulled them in to a standstill, soothed them with his voice, and made
the reins fast around the whip. Then he turned to her with arms around
her and lips to lips.

"Oh, Billy, I'll make you a good wife," she sobbed, when the kiss was
broken.

He kissed her wet eyes and found her lips again.

"Now you know what I was thinkin' and why I was sweatin' when we was
eatin' lunch. Just seemed I couldn't hold in much longer from tellin'
you. Why, you know, you looked good to me from the first moment I
spotted you."

"And I think I loved you from that first day, too, Billy. And I was so
proud of you all that day, you were so kind and gentle, and so strong,
and the way the men all re