The Last Straw

  CHAPTER XVIII

  AN INTERRUPTED PROPOSAL

  The love that grew in the hearts of Tom Beck and Jane Hunter was notthe only suit which approached a climax in the hills. Another existed,quite different, unknown to them, unsuspected, even, but it was not asecret to one who rode from the HC ranch.

  This was the Reverend Azariah Beal. He stayed on, though assuring Beckthat the call might come any hour which would send him on his way. Hewas sent on many errands of importance, because Beck had come tobelieve that he could trust the clergyman as he could trust no otherman and it was this riding which gave Beal his knowledge of that otherlove making.

  Day after day he saw Dick Hilton in Devil's Hole. He saw him joined byanother rider, by Bobby Cole, and knew that the Easterner spent manydays at the ranch house down there in the deep valley.

  Hilton treated the girl as she never had been treated before. He toldher tales of cities and men and women that held her breathless and hewooed her with an artfulness which kept her unaware of love making.When with him, as when with her father, that ready defiance, herexpectation of trouble, became reduced to a wistfulness, an eagerinquiry which left her, not the self-sufficient bundle of passionatestrength, but a simple mountain child.

  He would ride beside her or sit at night by the fire in her father'scabin and talk for hours, giving of his experience well, for he was aglib talker. He asked nothing in return ... openly, but while he talkedhis eyes were on her eyes, prodding their depths, on her red mouth,hungering, on her wonderful throat, fired by desire. He bided his time,for his was a choice prize.

  Now and then she talked to him of Jane Hunter and though her allusionswere scornful and her face assumed that hostility, he knew that thisonly resulted from her envy, the curiosity which she would not let comeinto being. He played upon this, dropping hints of the reason for hiscoming west, lying insinuations of his relationships with the mistressof the big ranch, each hint a fertile seed planted in the rich soil ofher imagination.

  One afternoon they dismounted in a clump of willows where early in theseason and in wet summers a spring bubbled under a rim rock. Now it wasdry, almost dust-dry in places, and the girl sat on the grass whileHilton stretched at her feet, smoking idly.

  He talked to her for long and when he paused she said, looking far away:

  "I'd like to see somethin' else besides this. I'd like to have some ofthe chances other gals have. I'd give anything for a chance to besomebody!"

  He threw away his cigarette.

  "I'd give anything to give you a chance, Bobby," he said.

  "Yes, but you can't!" she laughed hopelessly. "You're a gentleman andI.... Why, I'm just the daughter of a nester."

  "And maybe that very combination of circumstances gives me my chance togive you yours.

  "I should like very much to take you east, Bobby."

  "Yes, but there's Alf. I couldn't leave him,"--shaking her head, stillinnocent of his intent.

  Hilton was not unprepared.

  "But if he had a comfortable ranch, with good buildings and plenty ofstock, and could come to visit you at times?"

  "But he ain't got any of them an' besides--

  "You don't mean for me to _stay!_" she said suddenly, eyesincredulous.

  "To stay, Bobby. To stay with me, forever and ever."

  She started to laugh but checked herself and leaned suddenly towardhim, her lips parted. He lifted himself to an elbow and reached out forher hand.

  "Don't you understand, dear girl? Don't you see that I love you?"

  She withdrew her hand from his clasp and looked away, brows drawntoward one another a trifle. He watched her craftily, timing his urgingto her realization.

  "Don't you see that I came west, guided by something bigger than my ownreason, directed by something that regulates the loves of men to bringthem to a good end?"

  She looked back at him and shook her head slowly.

  "I never thought I'd be loved. I never thought you cared for me that-away."

  "Bless you! That night when I went walking into your cabin and you metme with a rifle ready I knew I would love you and that you would loveme. It's one of the things neither of us can explain, but I was sure ofit, sure of it. Didn't you guess? Didn't you feel it deep down in yourheart?"

  "No, never. Nothin' good had ever happened to me. I didn't calculateanything good ever would happen. The only bein' I ever thought I'd lovewas Alf and I'd go through fire for him....

  "But this ... it's different. It ain't like that. This is somethin' ...I don't know...."

  She rose and pressed her hands to her breast as though some burstingemotion hurt her. Hilton stood before her, his breath a trifle quick,lips parted greedily. His particular hour, he felt, had struck!

  "One of the reasons that has made me love you has been your devotion toyour father. Another was your distrust. You never did trust me atfirst. I felt that you were keeping me off, holding yourself away fromme, Bobby. I wanted to tell you all this long ago,"--which was thetruth--"but I wanted you to be sure of yourself; I wanted you torecognize love and know that this thing between us is the lastingsort"--which was a lie.

  "The lasting kind?" she queried. "You love me? For good? Honest?"

  "Honest!" he promised, taking both her hands. "I love you with all thelove a man can give a woman! I love you enough to devote my whole lifeto making you happy. I have money. We can go where we please, do whatwe please. You will have friends and respect. You can see cities andthe ocean. You can live in grand hotels and eat wonderful food thatsomeone else has cooked; you can hear music and go to theaters; youwill have flowers and automobiles; you'll see California and Floridaand Europe...."

  "And because you love?" she demanded as he put his arms about her."It's because you love me, ain't it? If I thought ... if I thought itwas for anything else I'd kill you." Her tone was even enough, hervoice the soft, full voice of a woman touched by love, but beneath itsvelvet was a matter-of-fact certainty that caused the faintest tremorto run through his limbs.

  They looked into one another's eyes, felt each other's breath upontheir cheeks, the one consumed by passion, the other swept upward intoa new world, a new, incredible life, as a beautiful hope touched herheart. They did not see their horses standing with intent ears and, asthey were up wind they did not hear the slight sounds of anotherapproaching.

  "Because I love you, Bobby! Will you come?"

  "And I'll be your wife and you won't be ashamed of me ... ever?"

  "Never!"--in a tone that was too firm for conviction.

  "An' Alf'll come to see us whenever he wants to?"

  "Whenever he wants to. Don't you believe me? Why question?"--hurriedly."Say you love me, now, today, this hour,"--straining her to him. "Sayit to me, Bobby; say that you love me as I love you!"

  His eyes burned into hers and he closed his lips to press them on hers,to touch the woman of her into being, to accomplish the end he sought.

  "Oh, Mister Hilton, I--"

  Her voice had the quality of a sob and he waited for her to go onbefore he sealed his tricky pact with a kiss, but as she choked acrashing of the brush shocked him into a realization of the outsideworld and a resounding voice cried:

  "One moment! Just one moment!"

  The Reverend Azariah Beal advanced toward them through the willows.

  Bobby whirled to face him and Hilton, with an oath, released her.

  For a moment, portentous silence. The Reverend halted, plainlyconfused. Before Hilton's glare and the girl's breathless fury his eyeswavered. He opened his lips to speak and closed them helplessly. Then aqueer glimmer crossed his face, half hope, half smile.

  He reached into his pocket, brought forth a fountain pen, held it upand said:

  "One moment of your time to bring to your attention this article, knownfrom coast to coast, indispensable to any man, woman or child, which weare introducing for the purposes of further advertising at a triflingprice, which--"

  "Who the devil sent you here?" demanded Hilton, advan
cing.

  The Reverend lowered his hand and blinked through his spectacles.

  "I do not recall that I came from that black deity," he replied mildly."My feet are directed from Above,"--gesturing. "I have been calledupon--"

  "Now you're called upon to get out. Understand? Get out!"

  "Brother, is it possible that you are not interested in this article?Made of pure India rubber--"

  "You heard me! Get out!" cried Hilton.

  For a moment the Reverend stood, as though undecided.

  "I am sorry," he said, "that I can not interest you. If not today, thenanother time, perhaps? A splendid gift for a lady, my friend, a--"

  "Nobody here wants to listen to you. Be on your way!"

  Sorrowfully the Reverend replaced the pen in his pocket, rattling itagainst the remainder of his stock. As he turned away he drew them allout and stood for some time beside his horse, counting them carefully,muttering to himself. He looked about his feet, retraced his steps towhere he had stood in his attempt to make a sale, scanning the ground.

  "Can it be," he asked absently, "that I have miscounted?"

  He gave no heed to the two who watched him but it was a matter of tenminutes before he was finally satisfied that there had been no loss--orthat nothing else would be lost that day--and rode away.

  By that time Hilton's ill temper was implacable and in Bobby's face wasa half frightened, bewildered look. She turned to the Easterner with aquestioning little gesture but he did not respond.

  "He spoiled it for a while, Bobby," he said. "Let's ride back."