mething of all this. And if, as Levins said, Corrigan was
attempting to defraud these people, she felt that common justice required
that she head him off, if possible. By defeating Corrigan's aim she would,
of course, be aiding Trevison, and through him Hester Harvey, whom she had
grown to despise, but that hatred should not deter her. She mounted her
horse in a fever of anxiety and raced it over the plains toward Manti,
determined to find Corrigan and force him to tell her the truth.

Half way to town she saw a rider coming, and she slowed her own horse,
taking the rider to be Corrigan, coming to the Bar B. She saw her mistake
when the rider was within a hundred feet of her. She blushed, then paled,
and started to pass the rider without speaking, for it was Trevison. She
looked up when he urged Nigger against her animal, blocking the trail,
frowning.

"Look here," he said; "what's wrong? Why do you avoid me? I saw you on the
Diamond K range the other day, and when I started to ride toward you you
whipped up your horse. You tried to pass me just now. What have I done to
deserve it?"

She could not tell him about Hester Harvey, of course, and so she was
silent, blushing a little. He took her manner as an indication of guilt,
and gritted his teeth with the pain that the discovery caused him, for he
had been hoping, too--that his suspicions of her were groundless.

"I do not care to discuss the matter with you." She looked fairly at him,
her resentment flaming in her eyes, fiercely indignant over his effrontery
in addressing her in that manner, after his affair with Hester Harvey. She
was going to help him, but that did not mean that she was going to blind
herself to his faults, or to accept them mutely. His bold confidence in
himself--which she had once admired--repelled her now; she saw in it the
brazen egotism of the gross sensualist, seeking new victims.

"I am in a hurry," she said, stiffly; "you will pardon me if I proceed."

He jumped Nigger off the trail and watched with gloomy, disappointed eyes,
her rapid progress toward Manti. Then he urged Nigger onward, toward
Levins' cabin. "I'll have to erect another monument to my faith in women,"
he muttered. And certain reckless, grim thoughts that had rioted in his
mind since the day before, now assumed a definiteness that made his blood
leap with eagerness.

Later, when Rosalind sat opposite Corrigan at his desk, she found it hard
to believe Levins' story. The big