"That is impossible," Kate answered, firmly.

"Why impossible?" he asked.

"Because I will not accept any expressions of a love that I cannot

reciprocate."

"Love begets love," he argued, softly; "so long as you keep me at arm's

length you have no means of knowing whether or not you could reciprocate

my affection. Mr. Underwood has done me the great honor to consent to

bestow his daughter's hand upon me, and I have no doubt of yet winning

the consent of the lady herself if she will but give me a fair chance."

"Mr. Walcott," said Kate, her eyes ablaze with indignation, "would you

make a woman your wife who did not love you--who never could, under any

circumstances, love you?"

Walcott suddenly seized her hands in his, looking down into her eyes

with his steady, dominant gaze.

"If I loved her as I love you," he said, slowly, "I would make her my

wife though she hated me,--and win her love afterwards! I can win it,

and I will!"

"Never!" Kate exclaimed, passionately, but he had kissed her hands and

was gone before she could recover herself.

In that look she had for the first time comprehended something of the

man's real nature, of the powerful brute force concealed beneath the

smooth, smiling exterior. Her heart seemed seized and held in a

vise-like grip, while a cold, benumbing despair settled upon her like an

incubus, which she was unable to throw off for days.

It lacked only two days of the time set for Darrell's return to the

mining camp when he and Kate set out one afternoon accompanied by Duke

for a ride up the familiar canyon road. At first their ponies cantered

briskly, but as the road grew more rough and steep they were finally

content to walk quietly side by side.

For a while neither Darrell nor Kate had much to say. Their hearts were

too oppressed for words. Each realized that this little jaunt into the

mountains was their last together; that it constituted a sort of

farewell to their happy life of the past summer and to each other. Each

was thinking of their first meeting under the pines on that evening

gorgeous with the sunset rays and sweet with the breath of June roses.

At last they turned into a trail which soon grew so steep and narrow

that they dismounted, and, fastening their ponies, proceeded up the

trail on foot. Slowly they wended their way upward, pausing at length on

a broad, projecting ledge a little below the summit, where they seated

themselves on the rocks to rest a while. Kate's eyes wandered afar over

the wonderful scene before them, wrapped in unbroken silence, yet

palpitating in the mellow, golden sunlight with a mysterious life and

beauty all its own.




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