osing
the door softly, leaving a thin wisp of smoke trailing behind him.

Leland, alone in the study, put his hand to his forehead. It came away
wet with sweat.

"A game of bluff and the gambler wins!" he muttered fiercely. "And
now--God curse me if I spare him!"

His buoyant stride carried Red Reckless swiftly down into the yard
where he had left Wanda. She looked up eagerly as he came swinging on.
Then suddenly her heart stood still, chilled with the quick fear of her
premonition. The smile which Shandon summoned was at once a brave
attempt and a pitiful failure.

"What is it, Wayne?" asked Wanda quickly.

"Your father has forbidden me the ranch," he told her bitterly. "I
don't know exactly why. It came out of a clear sky so far as I am
concerned. He does not want me to come here again; he does not want
you to see me at all, anywhere."

"Wayne!"

"He called me an idler, a spendthrift, a gambler and a brawler," he
went on swiftly. "As I suppose I have been.--There has never been
anything to make me care--until to-day! You won't let what he says
make any difference, Wanda?"

She came closer to him, her eyes brilliant.

"I don't have to answer that question, Wayne," she whispered.

He took her into his arms and kissed the mouth turned up to him, and so
left her. She watched him go down to the stable, watched the tall,
upright form until Lady Lightfoot carried him out of sight through the
pines. Then, her head as erect as her lover's had been, she went
slowly to the house.

CHAPTER IX

THE CONTEMPT OF SLEDGE HUME

The window shades in the study were half drawn so that in the late
afternoon the room was shadowy. From the fireplace crackling flames
cast wavering gleams across the polished oaken table top and the heavy
mission furniture. Leland had not stirred from the chair into which he
had sunk after Wayne Shandon's going. Shandon had been gone an hour;
he had met Garth Conway at the bridge and now Garth was with Leland.

There was no longer in the old man's eye or bearing a hint of the
battle which he had fought all day. He had gone through the hours of
his inner struggle and as it had ended three months ago so had it ended
to-day. He knew that he would not open his mind to consider the
question again. His full piercing eyes were stern and determined.
Purposefully he had set his feet into the path he meant to follow
without swerving. In a moment of hesitation and uncertainty t