ust finished proposing to me and was at the point where he was
supposed to speak bitter words about his rival." She laughed again,
gazing at Leviatt with mocking eyes. "Of course, I shall never be able
to tell my readers what he might have said, for you appeared at a most
inopportune time. But he has taught me a great deal--much more, in
fact, than I ever expected from him."

She bowed mockingly. "I am very, very much obliged to you, Mr.
Leviatt," she said, placing broad emphasis upon her words. "I promise
to try and make a very interesting character of you--there were times
when you were most dramatic."

She bowed to Leviatt and flashed a dazzling smile at her brother. Then
she walked past Leviatt, picked her way daintily over the loose stones
on the hillside, and descended to the level where she had tethered her
pony. Ben stood grinning admiringly after her as she mounted and rode
out into the flat. Then he turned to Leviatt, soberly contemplating
him.

"I don't think you were rehearsing for the book," he said quietly, an
undercurrent of humor in his voice.

"She was funnin' me," returned Leviatt, his face reddening.

"I reckon she was," returned Ben dryly. "She's certainly some clever
at handing it to a man." He smiled down into the flat, where Miss
Radford could still be seen, riding toward the cabin. "Looks as though
she wasn't quite ready to change her name to 'Leviatt'," he grinned.

But there was no humor in Leviatt's reflections. He stood for a
moment, looking down into the flat, the expression of his face morose
and sullen. Ben's bantering words only added fuel to the flame of rage
and disappointment that was burning fiercely in his heart. Presently
the hard lines of his lips disappeared and he smiled craftily.

"She's about ready to change her name," he said. "Only she ain't
figgerin' that it's goin' to be Leviatt."

"You're guessing now," returned Ben sharply.

Leviatt laughed oddly. "I reckon I ain't doin' any guessin'," he
returned. "You've been around her a heap an' been seein' her
consid'able, but you ain't been usin' your eyes."

"Meaning what?" demanded Ben, an acid-like coldness in his voice.

"Meanin' that if you'd been usin' your eyes you'd have seen that she's
some took up with Stafford's new stray-man."

"Well," returned Ben, "she's her own boss. If she's made friends with
Ferguson that's her business." He laughed. "She's certainly clever,"
he added, "and mebbe sh