use," she said, "we, too, had
something to do with making our country. And now go to Molly, or you'll
both think me a tiresome old lady."

"I think--" he began, but was not quite equal to expressing what he
thought, and suddenly his shyness flooded him again.

"In that case, nephew," said she, "I'm afraid you'll have to kiss me
good night."

And so she dismissed him to his wife, and to happiness greater than
either of them had known since they had left the mountains and come to
the East. "He'll do," she said to herself, nodding.

Their visit to Dunbarton was all happiness and reparation for the
doleful days at Bennington The old lady gave much comfort and advice
to her niece in private, and when they came to leave, she stood at the
front door holding both their hands a moment.

"God bless you, my dears," she told them. "And when you come next time,
I'll have the nursery ready."

And so it happened that before she left this world, the great-aunt was
able to hold in her arms the first of their many children.

Judge Henry at Sunk Creek had his wedding present ready. His growing
affairs in Wyoming needed his presence in many places distant from his
ranch, and he made the Virginian his partner. When the thieves prevailed
at length, as they did, forcing cattle owners to leave the country or be
ruined, the Virginian had forestalled this crash. The herds were driven
away to Montana. Then, in 1889, came the cattle war, when, after putting
their men in office, and coming to own some of the newspapers, the
thieves brought ruin on themselves as well. For in a broken country
there is nothing left to steal.

But the railroad came, and built a branch to that land of the
Virginian's where the coal was. By that time he was an important man,
with a strong grip on many various enterprises, and able to give his
wife all and more than she asked or desired.

Sometimes she missed the Bear Creek days, when she and he had ridden
together, and sometimes she declared that his work would kill him.
But it does not seem to have done so. Their eldest boy rides the horse
Monte; and, strictly between ourselves, I think his father is going to
live a long while.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Virginian, by Owen Wister

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