"Nobody in this country has money enough to pay a fair price for the ranch as a whole. That would practically knock out competition. That's what he is counting on."
"He hasn't got me yet," said Angus. "It's funny, but old French is trying to buy out Miss Winton, too." He told the lawyer of French's offer.
"Then Braden is putting up the money for French," the lawyer deduced. "I don't understand it any more than you do, but I do know that neither of these men would knowingly buy anything valueless. So far as your place is concerned, the value is there. As to the other it doesn't seem to be. But I think you did right in advising her not to sell."
Angus rode homeward thoughtfully. His thoughts affected his pace, and so when under ordinary circumstances he would have been home, he was little more than halfway. Chief suddenly pricked his ears, and Angus became aware of Kathleen French upon her favorite horse, Finn. She seemed to have been riding hard, for his coat was wet and his flanks drawn and working.
"What's the hurry?" he asked. She brushed her loosened hair away from her forehead.
"He wanted to run and I let him. I'll ride along with you now."
"I suppose you know that your father wouldn't like it?"
"This isn't the Middle Ages," she replied scornfully. "These family feuds make me tired. I have no quarrel with you."
"I don't want to make trouble for you."
"You won't," she told him. "I can look after myself."