She had been as foolish over him as a
schoolgirl in the matter of a matinee idol. That she would have to lash
herself for her folly through many sleepless hours of the night was a
certainty.

Meanwhile she went through the part required of her. At dinner she
tossed the conversational ball back and forth as deftly as usual, and
afterward she played her accustomed game of bridge. Fortunately, Kilmeny
was her partner. Sometimes when her thoughts wandered the game suffered,
but the captain covered her mistakes without comment. She could almost
have loved him for the gentle consideration he showed. Why must she
needs be so willful? Why couldn't she have given her heart to this
gallant gentleman instead of to the reckless young scoundrel whom she
hardly knew?

Before the party broke up a ride was arranged for next morning to the
Devil's Slide, a great slab of rock some miles away. The young people
were to have an early breakfast and get started before the sun was hot.
For this reason the sitting at auction was short.

But though Moya reached her room before midnight, it was not until day
was beginning to break that she fell into a troubled sleep. She tossed
through the long hours and lived over every scene that had passed
between her and Jack Kilmeny. It was at an end. She would never see him
again. She would ride with the others to the Devil's Slide and he would
come to the appointment he had made to find her not there. He would go
away, and next day she would leave with the rest of her party for the
Big Bend mining country, where Verinder and Lord Farquhar were heavily
interested in some large gold producers. That chapter of her life would
be closed. She told herself that it was best so. Her love for a man of
this stamp could bring no happiness to her. Moreover, she had taken an
irretrievable step in betrothing herself to Captain Kilmeny. Over and
over again she went over the arguments that marshaled themselves so
strongly in favor of the loyal lover who had waited years to win her.
Some day she would be glad of the course she had chosen. She persuaded
herself of this while she sobbed softly into the hot pillows.

When Fisher wakened her to dress in time for the early breakfast Moya
felt very reluctant to join the others. She would have to laugh and talk
and make merry, and all the time she would be miserably unhappy. It
would be impossible for her to stand Verinder to-day without screaming.
A sheer physical lassitude