Eve waited for him to come up the garden path, and for the moment the boy was forgotten. She welcomed him with the cordiality of old friendship. There was genuine pleasure in her smile, there was hearty welcome in her eyes, and in the soft, warm grip of her strong young hand, but that was all. There was no shyness, no avoiding the honest devotion in his look. The radiant hope shining in his clear, dark eyes was not for her understanding. The unusual care in his dress, the neatly polished boots under his leather chaps, the creamy whiteness of his cotton shirt, the store creases of the new silk handkerchief about his neck, none of these things struck her as being anything out of the ordinary.
And he, blind soul, took courage from the warmth of her welcome. His heart beat high with a hope which no 45 ordinary mundane affairs could have inspired. All the ill-fate behind him was wiped off the slate. The world shone radiant before eyes, which, at such times, are mercifully blinded to realities. An Almighty Providence sees that every man shall live to the full such moments as were his just then. It is in the great balance of things. The greater the joy, the harder––– But what matters the other side of the picture!
“Eve,” he exclaimed, “I was hoping to find you––not busy. I’ve ridden right in to yarn with you––’bout things. Say, maybe you’ve got five minutes?”
“I’ve always got five minutes for you, Jim,” the girl responded warmly. “Sit right down here on this seat, and get––going. How’s things with the ‘AZ’s’?”
“Bully! Dan McLagan’s getting big notions of doing things; he’s heaping up the dollars in plenty. And I’m glad, because with him doing well I’m doing well. I’ve already got an elegant bunch of cows and calves up in the foot-hills. You see I make trade with him for my wages. I’ve done more. Yesterday I got him to promise me a lease of grazing, and a big patch for a homestead way up there in the foot-hills. In another two years I mean to be ranching on my own, eh? How’s that?”
The girl’s eyes were bright with responsive enthusiasm. She was smiling with delight at this dear friend’s evident success.
“It’s great, Jim. But how quiet you’ve been over it. You never even hinted before–––”
The man shook his head, and for a moment a shadow of regret passed across his handsome face.
“Well, you see I waited until I was sure of that lease. I’ve come so many falls I didn’t guess I wanted to try 46 another by anticipating too much. So I just waited. It’s straight going now,” he went on, with a return to his enthusiasm, “and I’m going to start building.”
“Yes, yes. You’ll get everything ready for leaving the ‘AZ’s’ in–––”