"Then why does he want to buy the ranch now?"
"I wish I knew."
"I am going to find out before I sell it. He lied about Blake, and I don't believe he just wants to take it off my hands. There is some other reason."
"I think so myself, but I don't know what it is. There is something else though. We had a few hard words, and the upshot of the whole thing was that he forbade me to have anything to do with him or his. I suppose he has that right. But also he forbade me to come here."
The girl stared at him, amazed.
"Is he crazy? He has no right—"
"So I told him."
"And you will always be welcome, while the ranch is mine, or beneath any roof that is mine."
"Thank you," he said simply.
"But this is beyond everything!" she flamed indignantly. "I am not a child. I make my own friends. I will tell him—"