wered slowly, nodding her head. "I'll go anywhere with you."

"Now!" he demanded. "Will you go now? We can drive through Scissors Pass
to Abol on the Southeastern and take a train to Denver.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~}"

"O, no, not now," she plead. "Please not now.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} I can't go like this.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~}"

"Yes; now," he urged. "We'll never have a better chance.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~}"

"I beg you, if you love me, don't make me go now. I must think {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} and get
ready.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Why I haven't even got any powder for my nose."

They both laughed. The tension was broken. They were happy.

"Give me a little while to get ready," she proposed, "and I'll go when you
say."

"You promise?"

"Cross my heart.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} On my life and honour. Please take me home now, so they
won't suspect anything. If only nobody sees us! Please hurry. It'll be
dark pretty soon. You can write to me. It's so lonely out here!"

He turned his car and drove slowly townward, his free hand seeking hers
again. It was dusk when they reached the streets. Stopping his car in the
shadow of a tree, he kissed her and helped her out.

He sat still and watched her out of sight. A tinge of sadness and regret
crept into his mind, and as he drove homeward it grew into an active
discontent with himself. Why had he let her go? True, he had proved her
love, but now she was to be captured all over again. He ought to have
taken her. He had been a fool. She would have gone. She had begged him not
to take her, but if he had insisted, she would have gone. He had been a
fool!

CHAPTER XVIII

The second morning after this ride, while he was labouring over a note to
the girl, he was amazed to get one from her postmarked at Lorietta, a
station a hundred miles north of town at the foot of the Mora Mountains,
in which many of the town people spent their summer vacations. It was a
small square missive, exhaling a faint scent of lavender, and was simple
and direct as a telegram.

"We have gone to the Valley Ranch for a month," she wrote. "We had not
intended to go until August, but there was a sudden change of plans.
Somebody saw you and me yesterday. I had an awful time. Please don't try
to see me or write to me while we're here. It will be best for us. I'll be
back soon. I love you."

He sat glumly thinking over this letter for a long time. The
disappointment