upon the forest anywhere, the
Supervisor and I will find them for you."

So they parted, and Cavanagh and his guard resumed their slow journey
across the range.

CONCLUSION

In her career as the wife of a Western rancher, Eleanor Redfield had been
called upon to entertain many strange guests, and she made no very
determined objection when her husband telephoned that he was bringing Lize
as well as Lee Virginia to stay at Elk Lodge for a few days. The
revelation of the true relation between the two women had (as Lize put it)
made a "whole lot of difference" to Mrs. Redfield. It naturally cleared
the daughter of some part of her handicap, and it had also made the
mother's attitude less objectionable.

Furthermore, the loyalty of Eliza to Ross, her bravery in defending him
from attack, and the love and courage which enabled her to rise from a
sick-bed and go to the mountains, ready and insistent on taking his place
as nurse--all these were not the traits of a commonplace personality. "I
begin to think I've been unjust to Mrs. Wetherford," she admitted to her
husband.

She had seen Lize but once, and that was in the distorting atmosphere of
the restaurant, and she remembered her only as a lumpy, scowling,
loud-voiced creature with blowsy hair and a watchful eye. She was
profoundly surprised, therefore, when Lee Virginia introduced a
quiet-spoken, rather sad-faced elderly woman as her mother.

"I'm glad to see you, Mrs. Wetherford," Eleanor said, with the courtesy
which was instinctive with her.

"I'm mightily obliged for the chance to come," replied Lize. "I told
Reddy--I mean the Supervisor--that you didn't want no old-timer like me,
but he said 'Come along,' and Lee she fixed me out, and here I am." She
uttered this with a touch of her well-known self-depreciation, but she was
by no interpretation sordid or common.

She did, indeed, show Lee's care, and her manner, while manifestly formed
upon Lee's instructions, was never ludicrous. She was frankly curious
about the house and its pretty things, and swore softly in her surprise
and pleasure. "Think of an old cow-boss like me living up to these
jimmy-cracks!" As they went to their room together, she made a confession:
"The thing that scares me worst is _eating_. I've et at the Alma times
enough, but to handle a fork here with El'nor Redfield lookin' on! Great
peter! ain't there some way of takin' my meals out in the barn? I wouldn't
mind you and Ross and