This side of the situation had not struck Jim at first. He got up and walked the floor, while the girl, standing quietly by the fireplace, watched him, a proud, fond light in her eyes. Sammy did not know what the bond between her father and the big ruffian was, but she knew that it was not a light one. Now that the issue was fairly defined, she felt confident that, whatever the cost, the break would be made.
But at this time it was well that she did not know how great the cost of breaking the bond between the two men would be.
Jim stopped before his daughter, and, placing a hand upon each shoulder, said, “Tell me, girl; are you so powerful anxious to have me and Young Matt stay good friends like we’ve always been?”
“I—I am afraid I am, Daddy.”
And then, a rare smile came into the dark face of Jim Lane. He kissed the girl and said, “I’ll do it, honey. I ain’t afraid to, now.”
CHAPTER XXX.
SAMMY GRADUATES.
The next day when young Stewart came, the books were all back on the shelf in the main room of the cabin, and Sammy, dressed in a fresh gown of simple goods and fashion, with her hair arranged carefully, as she had worn it the last two months before Ollie’s coming, sat at the window reading.
The man was surprised and a little embarrassed. “Why, what have you been doing to yourself?” he exclaimed.
“I have not been doing anything to myself. I have only done some things to my clothes and hair,” returned the girl.
Then he saw the books. “Why, where did these come from?” He crossed the room to examine the volumes. “Do you—do you read all these?”