ere no more apple orchards and flat or rolling meadow
lands. The train had brought them into another world, a world unlike
anything that Annesley had seen before. At the stations were flat-faced,
half-breed Indians and Mexicans; some poorly clad, others gaily dressed,
with big straw hats painted with flowers, and green leggings laced with
faded gold. In the distance were hills and mountains, and the train ran
through stretches of red desert sprinkled with rough grass, or cleft with
river-beds, where golden sands played over by winds were ruffled into
little waves.

Toward noon Knight showed himself at the open door of the stateroom.

"We'll be in Albuquerque before long now," he announced. "That's where I
change, you know, for Texas. The train stops for a while, and I can get
your ticket for Los Angeles. Those letters of introduction I told you
about are ready. I've left a blank for your name. I suppose you've made
up your mind what you want to do?"

Some people with handbags pushed past, and Knight had to step into the
room to avoid them. The moment, long delayed, was upon her!

Annesley remembered how she had put off deciding whether or not to sail
for America with Knight. Now a still more formidable decision was before
her and had to be faced. She glanced up at the tall, standing figure.
Knight was not looking at her. His eyes were on the desert landscape
flying past the windows.

"What I _want_ to do!" she echoed. "There's nothing in this world that
I want to do."

"Then"--and Knight did not take his eyes from the window--"why not
drift?"

"Drift?"

"Yes. To Texas. Oh, I know! I asked you that before, and you said you
wouldn't. But hasn't destiny decided? Would it have sent you these
thousands of miles with me unless it meant you to fight it out on those
lines? You've travelled far enough, side by side with me, to learn that a
man and a woman with only a thin wall between them can be as far apart as
if they were separated by a continent.

"Now, this minute, you've got to decide. It isn't _I_ who tell you so.
It's fate. Will you go on alone from the place we're coming to, or--will
you try the thin wall?"

CHAPTER XXIV

THE ANNIVERSARY

The girl felt as if some great flood were sweeping her off her feet. She
clutched mechanically at anything to save herself. Knight was there. He
stood between her and desolation; but if he had spoken then--if he had
said he wanted her, and begged her to stay, sh