u go. If you don't know
how, I'll show you." He took her hand and looked at her searchingly:

"Is that my answer?"

As she stood with her back against the table she gripped the edge of it
tightly.

"I guess it is, Hughie. I've thought it all out and it seems best."

"I can't--I won't believe you mean that!" he exclaimed, passionately.

"But I do. There are many reasons why I can't leave here and do as you
ask."

"And," incredulously, "the fact that we love each other doesn't count?"
He shook his head. "I must say I don't understand. I didn't know that
you were so happy here--"

"Happy!" The color flooded her face as she cried fiercely, "Mostly
it's--hell!"

"I don't comprehend at all."

"In the first place, your world and mine are far apart--that girl you
brought to the corrals made me see that clearer than ever before. I
might, in time, adapt myself--I don't know. I'm not ignorant of the
things one can learn from books, and I'm not dull, but it would be an
experiment, and if it failed it might be like that experience at the
Prouty House on a larger scale. I would humiliate you and make you
ashamed." Then, looking at him searchingly, she added: "Tell me the
truth, Hughie--haven't you thought something of this yourself?"

"I realize, of course," he admitted candidly, "that naturally there
would be situations which would be difficult for you at first; but what
of that? You'll learn. You are more than intelligent--you have brains,
and your instincts are right from first to last. I tell you I love you,
and nothing else counts. I'm so sure of the result that I'm willing to
risk the experiment."

Her eyes, fixed upon him, shone with pride, and there was a note of
exultation in her voice as she cried:

"I hoped you would say that!"

He smiled back:

"You're tricky, Kate. You set traps for me. But," impatiently, "go on;
if your other reasons are not more serious than this--"

She looked at him speculatively and doubtfully:

"I wonder, if I can make you see things from my point of view--if it's
possible for you to understand how I feel. Our lives and experiences
have been so different. I'm afraid I shall fail. It's just this--" an
expression of grim purpose which he saw was not new to it settled upon
her face--"I've set myself a goal; it's in sight now and I've got to
reach it. If I stopped, I know that the feeling that I had been a
quitter when a real temptation came to me would gnaw inside of me until
I w