he did.
It was for poor Charlie, Bill's brother. And Kate had sworn that
Charlie was innocent.

She stood thinking, thinking, and then a further change came over her.
She remembered this man's work. She remembered his duty. Ought she to
feel badly toward him?

And Kate? What of Kate? Would she----What on earth brought him to the
valley--now?

It was too late to avoid him now, if she had wanted to. And, somehow,
on reflection, she was not sure she did want to. So she stood her
ground as he came up.

He reined Peter in as he came abreast, and his dark eyes expressed his
surprise at sight of the waiting girl.

"Why--Miss Helen, this----" He broke off abruptly, and, turning in his
saddle, looked back over the long, long trail. When his eyes came back
to the girl's face they were smiling. "It's kind of hot out here,"
he said. "Aren't you afraid of the sun?" Then he became silent
altogether, while he interpreted to himself the somewhat stony regard
in her eyes.

In a moment something of the awkwardness of the encounter occurred to
him. His mind was full of other things, which before he had missed the
possibility of.

"I don't mind the sun, Mr. Fyles," said Helen coldly. "Besides, I
guess I'm not standing around here for--fun. I'm waiting for some
one."

Fyles glanced back over the trail. Then he nodded. "He's coming
along," he said quietly. "Guess he started out from Amberley before
me. Say, he's a bully feller, sure enough, and I like him. I've seen a
good deal of him in Amberley. But I guessed he wouldn't be thanking me
for my company on the trail, so I came another way, and passed on
ahead. You see--I, well, I had to do my duty--here, and--well, he's a
bully feller, Miss Helen, and--you'll surely be happy with him."

While he was talking, just for a moment, a wild impulse stirred Helen
to some frigid and hateful retort. But the man's evident sincerity won
the day and the girl's eyes lit with a radiant smile.

"He's--on the trail?" she cried, banishing her last shadow of
coldness. "He is? Say, tell me where, and when he'll get in. I--I had
this message which said he'd be here by sundown, and--and I thought
I'd just come right along and meet him. Have--have you seen him?
And--and----"

Fyles shook his head. "Not until just now," he said kindly. "He's
about four miles back. Say," he added, with less assurance, "maybe
your sister's home?"

For a moment Helen stared incredulously. "Yes," she answered slowly.