ve than daunting, but he understood why she had told him he made her cheap. She meant to keep her caresses for her husband or declared l

e was determined and liked her own way. He had promised to marry another girl, of a very different stamp, but his conscience was clear on that point. It was better for Helen's sake that he should give he

In his heart, he knew the fight was hopeless; Festing, for example, in his place, might perhaps make good, but he had not the stamina for the long struggle. All the same, he worked w

ss the dazzling sky, and where there were belts of plowed land the harrows clanked across the furrows amidst a haze of blowing dust. The ducks and geese had gone, a

s. Indeed, he would have sold out but for Sadie. The girl was clever and had tone; he wanted her to find life smooth and taste pleasure her mother had not enjoyed. The latter ha

ries; one was in reality a banker. Bills were not often paid until the crop was harvested, farmers began without much money, and one must know whom to trust. Indeed, one often fi

e was liked by his customers. Now he was breathing hard because he had helped a farmer to put a heavy bag of flour in his wagon. The farmer drove away and a cloud of dust the team stirred up blew down the street. The fronts of the wooden

ed him. The room felt very hot and was full of flies that buzzed in a tormenting cloud round his

er him. "Tell Jake to give you a big glass of the speci

pulled himself together when he had drained the

the truck Gascoyne got?"

all right?" the

aid Keller. "Take

d then opened a book of accounts. He had had another warning, sharper than the last, and had better put things straight while he could. With this object he worked l

week or two except when she was angry. This indicated th

a talk," he said. "I've put

must be frank with her father. He did not, as a

ou won't be satisfied to stop at the hotel all your life. You're smart and a looker, and I guess you want to go out and se

and she knew his health was not good, altho

yway, and hope you'll be

ip on the business long and want a man to help. But I'm not goi

vague gesture, though

three or four of the boys in the settlement who could be taught to run the store an

calm, although her heart be

n the trouble is they're my kind and belong where I do, while you mean to go higher. Well, that's right; I've put up the dollars to give you

don't know and couldn't learn here. If

und the settlement who could

voice was quiet. "He isn't mine. I allow, in some

t; but it seems you're like the rest-well, I was a very poor man when your mother ma

w the

fferent girl, but you know what you want and how to keep i

e made a sign of agreement, but d

harnock and sometimes hold him tight. You must keep him off the liquor, and maybe stop him

and stood by her father's chair. Her look was str

as plenty of faults, bu

hand. He had some misgivin

I can trust you. I think you've got that right and won't for

o so now. When she sat down in her room, however, her face was grave. Her courage was high, but she felt half afraid. Although she loved Bob Charnock, life with him might be dif

ers and plows. He was not the man to waste time when he had made a plan, and moreover felt that he had

spry this morning,"

have been rushing me the last week

ot, but I've got a lot of money standing out, and aft

the dealer remarked: "Charnock was in a few days ago, a

if he meant to hold on! He reckoned, not long since

rnock up, but guess it's dangerous. Owes

ed thoughtful. "Didn't know it was quite so bad as

e new man at Concord. Smith sa

ustomer going to somebody else. In fact, thi

me, told me how he was fixed, and let me see what I could do. If he's going t

, and if you let him go on until harvest, you'll have a

eep him going if he'd stayed with me, but I can't stand for losi

but Keller left the office with some doubts. His scheme was going to succeed, but he wondered whether he had indulged Sadie too far. Much

e them as he moodily watched the tangled grass part before the shares and vanish beneath the polished surface of the turned-up clods. He was breaking new soil, doing work that wo

w across the plain. Still the belt he was plowing was good soil; the firm black gumbo that holds the moisture the wheat plant needs. There was something exhilarating in the rushing breeze a

h trammels that were getting tighter, and try to regain something that he had lost. Sometimes he felt desper

cross a rise amidst a cloud of sand. It was the mail-carrier going his round, but he woul

said, taking out thr

ructed him to recover payment of the debts Charnock owed. He crushed the letter in his clenched hand and the veins stood out on his forehead, while his face got red. The blow he feared had fallen and he was ruined;

ut the teams in the stable,

ed the other. "What

ong to my creditors, who can look after them. I'm

stead and half an hour later