by nature or training to do
anything else.

"But sometimes I did long for the centres of civilization; to touch
elbows with their activities; to feel the flow of the current of
humanity in great streets. Not that I wanted to give up Little Rivers,
but I wanted to go forth to fill the mind with argosies which I could
enjoy here at my leisure. And Mary was young. The longing that she
concealed must be far more powerful than mine. I saw the supreme
selfishness of shutting her up on the desert, without any glimpse of the
outer world. I sensed the call that sent her on her lonely rides to the
pass. I feared that your coming had increased her restlessness.

"But I wander! That is my fault, as you know, Sir Chaps. Well, we come to
the end of the weaving; to the finality of John Wingfield's victory.
Little Rivers was getting out of hand. I could plan a ranch, but I had
not a business head. I had neither the gift nor the experience to deal
with lawyers and land-grabbers. I knew that with the increase of
population and development our position was exciting the cupidity of
those who find quicker profit in annexing what others have built than in
building on their own account. I knew that we ought to have a great dam;
that there was water to irrigate ten times the present irrigated area.

"Then came John Prather. I saw in him the judgment, energy, and ability
for organization of a real man of affairs. He was young, self-made,
engaging and convincing of manner. He liked our life and ideals in Little
Rivers; he wanted to share our future. In his resemblance to you I saw
nothing but a coincidence that I passed over lightly. He knew how to
handle the difficult situation that arose with the reappearance of old
man Lefferts' partners. He would get the water rights legalized beyond
dispute and turn them over to the water users' association; he would
bring in capital for the dam; the value of our property would be
enhanced; Little Rivers would become a city in her own right, while I was
growing old delectably in the pride of founder. So he pictured it and so
I dreamed. I was so sure of the future that I dared the expense of a trip
to New York.

"And always to me, when I looked at you and when I thought of you, you
were the son of John Wingfield; you incarnated the inheritance of his
strength. But when, from the drawing-room, I saw your father, whom I had
not seen for fifteen years, then--well, the thing came to me in a burning
second,