As luck would have it, when she started out to walk down to the Andrews ranch she encountered Jack Belllounds.
“Where are you going?” he inquired, inquisitively.
“I'm going to see Mrs. Andrews,” she replied.
“No, you're not!” he declared, quickly, with a flash.
Columbine felt a queer sensation deep within her, a hot little gathering that seemed foreign to her physical being, and ready to burst out. Of late it had stirred in her at words or acts of Jack Belllounds. She gazed steadily at him, and he returned her look with interest. What he was thinking she had no idea of, but for herself it was a recurrence and an emphasis of the fact that she seemed growing farther away from this young man she had to marry. The weeks since his arrival had been the most worrisome she could remember.
“Iam going,” she replied, slowly.
“No!” he replied, violently. “I won't have you running off down there to—to gossip with that Andrews woman.”
“Oh,you won't?” inquired Columbine, very quietly. How little he understood her!
“That's what I said.”
“You're not my boss yet, Mister Jack Belllounds,” she flashed, her spirit rising. He could irritate her as no one else.
“I soon will be. And what's a matter of a week or a month?” he went on, calming down a little.
“I've promised, yes,” she said, feeling her face blanch, “and I keep my promises.... But I didn't say when. If you talk like that to me it might be a good many weeks—or—or months before I name the day.”
“Columbine!” he cried, as she turned away. There was genuine distress in his voice. Columbine felt again an assurance that had troubled her. No matter how she was reacting to this new relation, it seemed a fearful truth that Jack was really falling in love with her. This time she did not soften.
“I'll call dad tomake you stay home,” he burst out again, his temper rising.
Columbine wheeled as on a pivot.
“If you do you've got less sense than I thought.”
[Illustration: “I know why you're going. It's to see that club-footed cowboy Moore!... Don't let me catch you with him.”]
Passion claimed him then.
“I know why you're going. It's to see that club-footed cowboy Moore!... Don't let me catch you with him!”
Columbine turned her back upon Belllounds and swung away, every pulse in her throbbing and smarting. She hurried on into the road. She wanted to run, not to get out of sight or hearing, but to fly from something, she knew not what.
“Oh! it's more than his temper!” she cried, hot tears in her eyes. “He's mean—mean—MEAN! What's the use of me denying that—any more—just because I love dad?... My life will be wretched.... Itis wretched!”
Her anger did not last long, nor did her resentment. She reproached herself for the tart replies that had inflamed Jack. Never again would she forget herself!
“But he—he makes me furious,” she cried, in sudden excuse for herself. “What did he say? 'That club-footed cowboy Moore'!... Oh, that was vile. He's heard, then, that poor Wilson has a bad foot, perhaps permanently crippled.... If it's true.... But why should he yell that he knew I wanted to see Wilson?... I didnot! I do not.... Oh, but I do, I do!”
And then Columbine was to learn straightway that she would forget herself again, that she had forgotten, and that a sadder, stranger truth was dawning upon her—she was discovering another Columbine within herself, a wilful, passionate, different creature who would no longer be denied.
Almost before Columbine realized that she had started upon the visit she was within sight of the Andrews ranch. So swiftly had she walked! It behooved her to hide such excitement as had dominated her. And to that end she slowed her pace, trying to put her mind on other matters.
The children saw her first and rushed upon her, so that when she reached the cabin door she could not well have been otherwise than rosy and smiling. Mrs. Andrews, ruddy and strong, looked the pioneer rancher's hard-working wife. Her face brightened at the advent of Columbine, and showed a little surprise and curiosity as well.
“Laws, but it's good to see you, Columbine,” was her greeting. “You 'ain't been here for a long spell.”
“I've been coming, but just put it off,” replied Columbine.
And so, after the manner of women neighbors, they began to talk of the fall round-up, and the near approach of winter with its loneliness, and the children, all of which naturally led to more personal and interesting topics.
“An' is it so, Columbine, that you're to marry Jack Belllounds?” asked Mrs. Andrews, presently.
“Yes, I guess it is,” replied Columbine, smiling.
“Humph! I'm no relative of yours or even a particular, close friend, but I'd like to say—”
“Please don't,” interposed Columbine.
“All right, my girl. I guess it's better I don't say anythin'. It's a pity, though, onless you love this Buster Jack. An' you never used to do that, I'll swan.”
“No, I don't love Jack—yet—as I ought to love a husband. But I'll try, and if—if I—I never do—still, it's my duty to marry him.”
“Some woman ought to talk to Bill Belllounds,” declared Mrs. Andrews with a grimness that boded ill for the old rancher.
“Did you know we had a new man up at the ranch?” asked Columbine, changing the subject.
“You mean the hunter, Hell-Bent Wade?”
“Yes. But I hate that ridiculous name,” said Columbine.
“It's queer, like lots of names men get in these parts. An' it'll stick. Wade's been here twice; once as he was passin' with the hounds, an' the other night. I like him, Columbine. He's true-blue, for all his strange name. My men-folks took to him like ducks to water.”
“I'm glad. I took to him almost like that,” rejoined Columbine. “He has the saddest face I ever saw.”
“Sad? Wal, yes. That man has seen a good deal of what they tacked on to his name. I laughed when I seen him first. Little lame fellar, crooked-legged an' ragged, with thet awful homely face! But I forgot how he looked next time he came.”
“That's just it. He's not much to look at, but you forget his homeliness right off,” replied Columbine, warmly. “You feel something behind all his—his looks.”