ee. He placed his arm lightly but
protectingly over her shoulder. They sat in silence listening to the
Mexican's song. Finally Jack bent over and whispered gently in her ear:

"Softly, so the Thunder Bird won't hear, Echo; tell me you love me;
that you love only me; that you will always love me, no matter what
shall happen; that you never loved, until you loved me."

Echo sat upright, with a start. "What do you mean?" she exclaimed.
"Of course I love you, and you only, but the future and the past are
beyond our control. Unless you know of something that is going to
happen which may mar our love, your question is silly, not at all like
your Mother Goose nonsense--that was dear. And as for the past, you
mean Dick Lane."

"Yes, I mean Dick Lane," confessed Payson, in a subdued tone. "I am
jealous of him--that is--even of his memory."

"That is not like Jack Payson. What has come over you? It is the
shadow of your Thunder Bird. You know what my feeling was for Dick
Lane, and what it is, for it remains the same, the only difference
being that now I know it never was love. Even if it were, he is dead,
and I love you, Jack, you alone. Oh, how you shame me by forcing me to
speak of such things! I have tried to put poor Dick out of my mind,
for every time I think of him it is with a wicked joy that he is dead,
that he cannot come home to claim me as his wife. Oh, Jack, Jack, I
didn't think it of you!"

And the girl laid her face within her hands on her lover's knee and
burst into a fit of sobbing.

Jack Payson shut his teeth.

"Well, since I have lowered myself so far in your esteem, and since
your mind is already sinning against Dick Lane, we might as well go on
and settle this matter. I promise I will not mention it again. I,
too, have troubles of the mind. I am as I am, and you ought to know
it. I said I was jealous of Dick Lane's memory. It is more. I am
jealous of Dick Lane himself. If he should return, would you leave me
and go with him--as his wife?"

Again she sat upright. By a strong effort she controlled her sobbing.

"The man I admired does not deserve an answer, but the child he has
proved himself to be and whom I cannot help loving, shall have it.
Yes, if Dick Lane returns true to his promise I shall be true to mine."

She arose and went into the house. Payson rode homeward through the
starlight resolved of tormenting doubt only to be consumed by torturing
jealousy. He now had no