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.But the girl only buried it deeper and continued to cry.“Why, Hagar; whatever is the matter?”There was no answer, and after holding her for a time, Ruth succeeded in getting a look at her face.It was tear-stained, but dogged in expression, and had Ruth been experienced in reading the human emotions, she could have seen the guilt in the girl’s eyes, lurking far back.She also might have seen the determination in them—a determination not to tell her secret.And a sorrow, also, was there—aroused through the thought that she had deceived Ruth, and could not tell her.Hagar realized now that she had permitted her emotions to carry her too far, that she had aroused Ruth’s curiosity.Ruth must never know! She made an effort and sat up, laughing grimly through her tears, shaking her hair back from her eyes, brushing it away fiercely.“Dad says there’s times when I’m half loco,” she said.“I reckon he’s right.” She recovered her composure rapidly, and in a few minutes there were no traces of tears or of mental distress.But Ruth was puzzled, and after she left the cabin she tried in vain to provide an explanation for the girl’s strange conduct.On her next visit to the cabin, Ruth was astonished when Hagar asked her bluntly:“Ain’t there no punishment for men who deceive girls?”“Very little, Hagar, I fear—unless it is God’s punishment.”“Shucks!” The girl’s eyes flashed vindictively.“There ought to be.Durn ’em, anyway!”“Hagar, what has brought such a subject into your mind?” said Ruth wonderingly.The girl reddened, but met Ruth’s eyes determinedly.“I’ve got a book in here, that dad got with some other traps from ol’ man Cullen’s girls, back in Red Rock—they thought we was poorly, an’ they helped us that-a-way.It’s ‘Millie’s Lovers,’ an’ it tells how a man deceived a girl, an’ run away an’ left her—the sneakin’ coyote!”“Girls shouldn’t read such books, Hagar.”“Yes, they ought to.But it ought to tell in ’em how to get even with the men who do things like that!” She frowned as she looked at Ruth.“What would you think of a man that done that in real life?”“I should think that he wouldn’t be much of a man,” said Ruth.As before, Ruth departed from this visit, puzzled and wondering.On another morning, a few days following Ruth’s discovery of the shooting of Kelso, she found Hagar standing on the porch.The dog had apprised Hagar of the coming of her visitor.Hagar’s first words were:“Did you hear? Rex Randerson killed Kelso.”“I heard about it some days ago,” said Ruth.“It’s horrible!”“What do you reckon is horrible about it?” questioned Hagar, with a queer look at her friend.“Why,” returned Ruth, surprised; “the deed itself! The very thought of one human being taking the life of another!”“There’s worse things than killin’ a man that’s tryin’ to make you shuffle off,” declared Hagar evenly.“Rex Randerson wouldn’t kill nobody unless they made him do it.An’ accordin’ to what dad says, Kelso pulled first.Rex ain’t lettin’ nobody perforate him, you bet!”“He is too ready with his pistol.”The girl caught the repugnance in Ruth’s voice.“I thought you kind of liked Randerson,” she said.Ruth blushed.“What made you think that?” she demanded.“I’ve heard that you’ve gone ridin’ with him a lot.I just reckoned it.”“You are mistaken, Hagar.I do not like Randerson at all.He is my range boss—that is all.A murderer could never be a friend to me.”A shadow came over Hagar’s face.“Rex Randerson has got a clean heart,” she said slowly.She stood looking at Ruth, disappointment plain in her eyes.The disappointment was quickly succeeded by suspicion; she caught her breath, and the hands that were under her apron gripped each other hard.“I reckon you’ll take up with Masten again,” she said, trying to control her voice.Ruth looked intently at her, but she did not notice the girl’s emotion through her interest in her words.“What do you mean by ‘again’?”“I heard that you’d broke your engagement.”“Who told you that?” Ruth’s voice was sharp, for she thought Randerson perhaps had been talking.Hagar blushed crimson and resorted to a lie.“My dad told me.He said he’d heard it.”“Well, it isn’t true,” Ruth told her firmly; “I have never broken with Mr.Masten.And we are to be married soon.”She turned, for she was slightly indignant at this evidence that the people in the country near her had been meddling with her affairs, and she did not see the ashen pallor that quickly spread over Hagar’s face.Had Ruth been looking she must have suspected the girl’s secret.But it took her some time to mount her pony, and then looking back she waved her hand at Hagar, who was smiling, though with pale and drawn face.Hagar stood rigid on the porch until she could no longer see Ruth.Then she sank to the edge of the porch, gathered the dog Nig into her arms, and buried her face in his unkempt shoulder
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