"Would you like to go East with Donald and me when we return to Boston after the shearing?"
Thornton regarded him blankly.
"I need another man in my office," explained the wool-broker. "You have proved yourself a good accountant. Furthermore it would be greatly to our advantage to have a reliable helper who is familiar with ranch affairs and knows Sandy, the new manager. Then if I wanted some one, as I often have in the past, to make the trip out here and attend to business for me, you could do it."
Thornton got up and walked to the window. They could not see his face. He stood with his back toward them, looking out into the darkness.
Then suddenly he wheeled and came to Mr. Clark's side.
"You took me by surprise, sir," he said unsteadily. "I cannot thank you. I know well it is another chance you are giving me. I will take it and go East, and there I will prove to you that in the future you can trust me."
"You have proved that already, Thornton," replied Donald's father, as he smiled up into the face of the ranchman and gripped his coarse brown hand.
After Thornton had left the room Donald and his father were silent.
At last the boy said:
"You were right about Thornton, father. He was honest with you, just as you predicted he would be."