air walked across to the door leading into the
room beyond, and stood with his hand on the knob.

"Mrs. Baker," he said slowly, "I thought I would not speak an unkind
word to-day, no matter what was said to me; but you have offended too
often." His glance took in the indolently shapeless figure from head to
toe, and back again until he met her eye to eye. "You are the
personification of cowardice, of selfishness and snobbery, that makes
one despise his kind. For mere personal vanity you would sacrifice your
own daughter--your own flesh and blood. Probably we shall never meet
again; but if we should, do not dare to speak to me. Do not speak to me
now!" He swung open the door, and indicated the passage with a nod of
his head. "Go," he said, "and if you are a Christian, pray for a better
heart--for forgiveness!"

The woman hesitated; her lips moved, but she was dumb. She wanted to
refuse, but the irresistible power in those relentless blue eyes
compelled her to obey. Without a word she left the room and closed the
door behind her.

Ben Blair came back. The girl had not moved.

"Florence," he said, "there are but twenty minutes left. I ask you again
to get ready."

The girl's color rose anew; her blood flowed tumultuously, until she
could feel the beating of the pulses at her wrists.

"Ben Blair," she challenged, "you are trying to prevent my marrying
another man! Is it not so?"

The rancher folded his arms again.

"I am preventing it," he said.

Florence's brown eyes blazed. She clasped her hands together until the
fingers were white.

"You admit it, then!" she cried, looking at her companion steadily, a
world of scorn in her face. "I never thought such a thing possible--that
you would let your jealousy get the better of you like this!" She
paused, and hurled the taunt she knew would hurt him most. "You are the
last person on earth I would have selected to become a dog in the
manger!"

Ben did not stir, although the brown of his sun-tanned face went white.

"I looked for that," he said simply.

Florence's brown eyes widened in wonder--and in something
more--something she did not understand. Her heart was beating more
wildly than before. She felt her self-control slipping from her grasp,
like a rope through her hands.

"There seems nothing more to be said, then," she said, "except that I
will not go."

Even yet Blair did not move.

"You will go. The carriage comes in ten minutes," he reiterated calmly.