s very happy there--I had some letters from her. Yes,
she was happy until the War with Mexico began. Then Hunt was reported
killed, his father, too. And she was left all alone with distant kin of
theirs. So your grandfather went down to fetch her home. I'll always
believe he really wanted to punish her for going against his will. She
died--" her voice broke--"she died, because she had no will to live, and
_then_ he was sorry. But just a little, not enough to blame himself any.
Oh, no--it was still all Hunt's wickedness, he said, every bit of it! He
was a hard man...." Cousin Merry faced Aunt Marianna with her chin up as
if daring the other to object what she'd just said.

Drew returned to the news he still found difficult to believe. "So my
father's alive, Major. Well, that gives me some place to go--Texas...."

"Hunt Rennie's not in Texas." Cousin Merry spoke with such certainty
that all three of them gave her their full attention.

"I married Jefferson Barrett six months after Melanie eloped. We went to
Europe then for almost two years of traveling. Part of our mail must
have been lost. Hunt surely wrote to me! He liked Jefferson in spite of
the differences in their ages. If I had only had the chance to tell him
the truth about you, Drew. But I never knew he was alive either. You
remember Granger Wood, Justin?"

Major Forbes nodded. "He went out to California in '50."

"Yes, and when the war broke out he rode back across the Arizona and New
Mexico territories with General Johnston to enlist in the Confederate
forces. A month ago he came back here and he called to tell me he saw
Hunt in Arizona in '61. He had a horse-and-cattle ranch there, also some
mining holdings."

"Drew"--Aunt Marianna caught his arm--"you won't be so foolish as to go
out into that horrible wilderness hunting a man who doesn't even know
you're alive--who's a perfect stranger to you? You must be sensible. We
know that Father's will was very unjust, and we are not going to abide
by its terms--half of Red Springs will be yours."

Gently Drew released himself from her hold. "Maybe Hunt Rennie doesn't
know I exist; maybe we won't even like each other if and when we do
meet--I don't know. But Red Springs ain't my kind of world any more. And
I won't take anything my grandfather grudged givin' me. I may be young,
only in another way, I'm old, too. Too old to come under a schoolin'
rein again." He glanced across her shoulder, noticing that his speech