oluteness
towards his companion.

"And you came to warn me?" he said. "Hetty, dear, look up."

Hetty glanced at him and saw the glow in his eyes, but she clenched her
hand, and would have struck the horse in an agony of fear if Larry had not
touched him with his heel and swung a pace away from her.

"Oh," she gasped, "why will you waste time! Larry, they will kill you if
they find you."

Once more the little scornful smile showed upon Grant's lips, but it
vanished and Hetty saw only the light in his eyes.

"Listen a moment, dear," he said. "I have tried to do the square thing,
but I think to-night's work relieves me of the obligation. Hetty, can't
you see that your father would never give you to me, and you must choose
between us sooner or later? I have waited a long while, and would try to
wait longer if it would relieve you of the difficulty, but you will have
to make the decision, and it can't be harder now than it would be in the
future. Promise me you will go back to New York with Miss Schuyler, and
stay with her until I come for you."

Hetty trembled visibly, and the moonlight showed the crimson in her
cheeks; but she looked up at him bravely. "Larry," she said, "you are
sure--quite sure--you want me, and will be kind to me?"

The man bent his head solemnly. "My dear, I have longed for you for eight
weary years--and I think you could trust me."

"Then," and Hetty's voice was very uneven, though she still met his eyes.
"Larry, you can take me now."

Larry set his lips for a moment and his face showed curiously white.
"Think, my dear!" he said hoarsely. "It would not be fair to you. Miss
Schuyler will take you away in a week or two, and I will come for you. I
dare not do anything you may be sorry for; and they may find you are not
in the house. You must go home before my strength gives way."

The emotion she had struggled with swept Hetty away. "Go home!" she said
passionately. "They wanted to kill you--and I can never go back now. If I
did, they would know I had warned you--and believe--Can't you understand,
Larry?"

Then, the situation flashed upon Grant, and he recognized, as Hetty had
done, that she had cast herself adrift when she left the house to warn
him. He knew the cattle-baron's vindictiveness, and that his daughter had
committed an offence he could not forgive. That left but one escape from
the difficulty, and it was the one his own passions, which he had striven
to crush down, urged him to.