"Lynette!" he said eagerly. "Lynette, I love you! To-day you have stood between me and a fortune, and I tell you ... I love you! Since first you came to the door of my cabin I have loved you, you girl with the daring eyes!"
"Don't!" she pleaded. "Let me go. Can't you see...."
"Tell me, Lynette," he said sternly, still holding her hands tight in his, "is there any chance for me? I had never thought to marry; but now I'd rather have you mine than have all the gold that ever came out of the earth. Tell me and tell me the truth; we know each other rather well for so few days, Lynette. So tell me; tell me, Lynette."
Again she shook her head.
"Let me go," she pleaded. "Let me have a horse and go. Before they come up for me...."
"Then there's no chance, ever, for me?"
"Neither for you nor for any other man.... I have had enough of all men.... Let me go, Babe Deveril!"
Still he held her, his hands hardening on her, as he demanded:
"And what of Bruce Standing?"
"I don't know ... I can't understand men ... I thought there never was another man like him, a hard man who could be tender, a man who ... I don't know; I want to go."