call to duty. He
did not want her to think of him as vindictive in his spirit, and still
less did he desire her to consider him petty in his motives and notions.

On the other hand, the proposition was strictly a man-to-man affair, and
Echford Flagg had made relations unendurable.

Ward wished devoutly that he could clear his thoughts; they were
muddled. Back of the inertia which was hiding him in Adonia there seemed
to be reasons other than the new animosity toward his employer. Really,
he confessed to himself, he would like to go to Flagg and win to a
manlike and mutual understanding which would serve both of them. But he
muttered when he looked up at the big house, and he kept on waiting for
the master to offer an opening.

He confessed that his was a childish attitude toward an employer. Had he
allowed his infatuation to twist him into this being who was putting the
burden of an offer of compromise upon a poor old stricken man who ought
to be protected from his own intolerance?

However, the drive master was aware of a certain satisfaction in being
on hand to watch and weigh affairs in Adonia that day.

The raffle man, as the villagers called Crowley, seemed to have a great
deal on his mind, Latisan reflected. Crowley made several trips to the
telegraph office at the railroad station.

At dinner Miss Jones averted her eyes from Latisan and there was no talk
between them. Latisan tried to comfort himself, by the thought that
jealousy was operating. He saw her go out in the afternoon for a walk,
but he did not offer to accompany her. His naive conviction was that his
indifference and the threat of interest in Mrs. Everett would suffice to
bring Miss Patsy Jones down from her coquette's pedestal.

He was tempted to leap up and follow when he saw Crowley trailing after
the waitress; but Crowley went only a little distance, and then he came
back and went into the tavern and upstairs.

Again in midafternoon old Dick passed, but he brought no word to the
waiting drive master.

This insulting indifference, as Latisan considered it, indicated that
Echford Flagg was no longer depending on Ward as champion. There had
been no misunderstanding of language. Latisan had quit--and Flagg was
contented to let him stay quit.

The young man felt more acutely cheap and small. He had been setting
himself up as the one man who could drive down the Flagg logs. The fact
that he could not bring himself to break away instanter and