"Hang it! We never seem to be alone any more since you came back," complained the man.
"Why should we?" asked the young woman, her gaze apparently as frank and direct as that of a boy.
But he understood it for a challenge. "You didn't use to talk that way. You used to be glad enough to see me alone," he flung out.
"Did I? One outgrows childish follies, I suppose," she answered quietly.
"What's the matter with you?" he cried angrily. "It's been this way ever since——"
He broke off.
A faint, scornful smile touched her lips. "Ever since when, Tom?"
"You know when well enough. Ever since I shot Buck Weaver."
"And left me to pay forfeit," she suggested quickly, and as quickly broke off. "Hadn't we better talk of something else? I've tried to avoid this. Must we thrash it out?"
"You can't throw me over like that, after what's been between us. I reckon you pretend to have forgotten that I used to keep company with you."