me. You
tried in a coward's way. You struck me in the back. I hoped never to see
you again. How did you find me?"

"I've known for a long time that you were in Texas," said Madalena. "Lady
Annesley-Seton and I kept up a correspondence for months after you--sent
me away so cruelly, in such a hurry, believing hateful things, though you
had no proof. She wrote that 'Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Smith' would probably
never come back to England to settle, as she'd heard from a Mrs. Waldo
that they'd gone to live in Texas. She asked if I knew whether 'Nelson
Smith' had lost his money. I forgot to answer that question when I
answered the letter. But when she said 'Texas' I felt sure you must be
somewhere in this part. I remembered your telling me about the ranch that
consumptive gambler left to you on the Mexican frontier."

"What a fool I was to tell you!" Knight exclaimed, roughly.

The words and his way of flinging them at her were like a box on the ear;
and Annesley, lying in her hammock, heard with a thrill of pleasure. She
was ashamed of the thrill, and ashamed (because suddenly awakened to the
realization) that she was eavesdropping.

But it seemed impossible that she should break in upon this talk and
reveal her presence. She felt that she could not do it; though, searching
her conscience, she was not sure whether she clung to silence because it
was the lesser of two evils or because she longed with a terrible longing
to know whether these two would patch up their old partnership.

"If you knew why I have come all these miles, maybe you would not be so
hard," Madalena pleaded.

"That I can't tell until I do hear," said Knight, dryly.

"I am going to explain," she tried to soothe him. "A great thing has
happened. I can be rich and live easily all the rest of my years if I
choose. But--I wanted to see you before deciding.

"I arrived in El Paso yesterday, and went to the Paso del Norte Hotel, to
inquire about you. I was almost certain you would have taken back your
own name, because I knew you used to be known by it when you stayed in
Texas. I soon found out that I'd guessed right. I heard you'd stopped at
that hotel last year on the way to your ranch. I hired a motor-car and
came here to-day; but I didn't let the man bring me to the house. I
didn't want to dash up and advertise myself.

"I questioned some of your cowmen. They said you'd gone off, and would be
getting back at night in your automobile, not earlier than te