like that when I seen your
dear, ol' faces, your dear, plucky, ol' faces an' realised that--" She
could not go on, and buried her face in her hands, her glistening blonde
head shaking with her sobs.

It was thus that the Sheriff, entering a moment later, found her.
Without a word he resumed his seat in front of the fire.

Sonora continued to stare blankly at her. He was too dazed to speak,
much less to think. He broke silence slowly.

"What--you leavin' us?"

"Leavin' us?" inquired Happy, incredulously.

"Careful, girl, careful," warned Nick, softly.

The Girl hesitated a moment, and then went recklessly on:

"It's bound to happen soon."

Sonora looked more puzzled than ever; he rested his hand upon her desk
as if to support himself, and said:

"I don't quite understand. Great Gilead! We done anythin' to offend
you?"

"Oh, no, no, no!" she hastened to assure him, at the same time letting
her hand rest upon his.

But this explanation did not satisfy Sonora. Anxious to discover what
she had at heart he went on sounding:

"Tired of us? Ain't we got style enough for you?"

The Girl did not answer; her breathing, swift and short, painfully
intensified the hush that had fallen on the room; at last, the boys
becoming impatient began to bombard her with questions.

"Be you goin' to show them Ridge boys we've petered out an' culture's a
dead dog here?" began Happy, rising.

"Do you want them to think Academy's busted?" asked Handsome.

"Ain't we your boys no more?" put in Trinidad, wistfully.

"Ain't I your boy?" asked Sonora, sentimentally. "Why, what is it, Girl?
Has anybody--tell me--perhaps--"

The Girl raised her head and dried her eyes; when she spoke one could
have heard a pin drop.

"Oh, no, no, no," she said with averted face, and added tremulously:
"There, we won't say no more about it. Let's forgit it. Only when I go
away I want to leave the key o' my cabin with Old Sonora here, an' I
want you all to come up sometimes, an' to think o' me as the girl who
loved you all, an' sometimes is wishin' you well, an' I want to think o'
little Nick here runnin' my bar an' not givin' the boys too much
whisky." Her words died away in a sob and her head fell forward, her
hand, the while, resting upon Nick's shoulder.

At last, Sonora saw what lay beneath her tears; the situation was all
too clear to him now.

"Hold on!" he cried hoarsely. "There's jest one reason for the Girl to
leave her home an' friends