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Show fD' 1 1 dints mIPJLjUUL iL-"-K AMV- I ' VW MAHY OMAHA nd young. Rob had very little to gay. She had to make conversa-tlon conversa-tlon nnd did not know how much she dared ask. "Was It true about the horses what you told them nt dinner the other night?" "Yes. I couldn't have chosen worse time." "I'm sorry, Rob." She hcsltnted and dropped her eyes as she said It. "About our debts too? That we can't pay them?" "We can't pay them." "And the five - thousand - dollar nolo?" Not that either. That's what I've . v doing this week getting all tsc things settled. Extensions on trie loans and notes, arrangements with our creditors." This week perhaps, she thought as she cut her lamb chop, but what about last week and the week before? be-fore? And why couldn't you have been living at home, driving down here In the daytime to attend to banking business as you always have before? But none of this worried wor-ried her since Rob's visit of a week ago. As long as he loved her That minute In the dark when he had taken her hand and kissed It! And, too, his absence was explained by the fact that the sale had been a ill fl THIS STOltY THUS FAR: Ttilinrtcr-heiiil Ttilinrtcr-heiiil ii the only wlilto hnrsn evor luulcd on tlia Gouin llnr rum-ti In Wyomlni. Ho rnaeiiiblni hl grout srnndslro, wild Ulllon cnUrd tlio Alhlno. Uli lJ-yoar-old owimr hopci Tliuiidnrhnnd will devolop Into a moor bocnuso ol hli rsmarkahla pecd. riiim for fintnrtiif him In a lull nice mmit ar uncertain, however, became be-came TlnindiTlu'ad Ii dllllcult to manage. man-age. Iloh Mcl,anhlln, Kon'l father, hai to aril mmi ol hli horsca to raise cash. They bring poor prices. At the auction In Denver Rob meets an eastern horse buyer, who tolls him of opportunities at Doc Horner's sales In I'onnsylvanla. Rob ships 48 horses to the sale. Howard, Ren's brother, goes east to school. ' CHAVTKlt XVIII Rob wns trying to make himself heard. "If you will have it," he said, "I lost my shirt." "That's whnt he was saying to Chniiey," insisted Bess GilTord. "And I can't see whnt they go on rnising horses for " "Just for the fun of giving 'em away," said Charley, "or seeing 'em lose on the race track." "Did you really, Rob?" asked Genevieve Scott. "I did," said Rob grinning. "Who could have done it but me? I hit that sale with two carloads of horses just when the Argentine polo players play-ers were unloading their stuff before be-fore they left the States. Their horses sold for fabulous prices. American horses sold for a song." Nell sat very still. That was the way he had chosen to tell her. Easier Eas-ier on him than to tell it seriously when they were alone together. Easier Eas-ier on i her too. Rodney Scott hit his head with his fist. "And he owes me money 1" he exclaimed. "Owe you money!" scoffed Rob, "and how many others! But I'm serving you all notice. No bills going go-ing to be paid!" Nell's eyes widened and flew to Rob's. Was it that bad? It couldn't be Surely, even If he had had to sacrifice the horses for the lowest prices, with two carloads, there would be enough realized to pay their bills Her eyes held a definite question. For the first time Rob met her gaze directly and his hard expression . gave her a definite answer. Her eyelids fell. It was true. A disaster. dis-aster. But she didn't care. Money what did it have to do with them? While the hilarious and senseless talk criss-crossed the table, Nell listened lis-tened to the music. An orchestra and Arthur Rubinstein were playing play-ing a Rachmaninoff concerto. The broad, Impassioned crescendos entered en-tered into her blood. So men could feel that way too. It had been composed com-posed by a man. It was being played by men. It was the way she felt. Was it the way Rob felt too? At some time during the evening someone announced that it was snowing, and the men went out. and closed the windows of their cars. Gus kept bringing in logs for the fireplaces and bowls of glogg. It was too late and the weather was too bad for anyone to think of driving driv-ing back to Laramie that night. Nell went into the downstairs bedroom bed-room to be sure there was oil in the lamps. Striking a match 'and shielding the flickering wisp of flame, she suddenly saw another hand resting on the table before her. She could not mistake that hand the hard power of it the significance signifi-cance l The flame went out. The hand closed around hers, completely engulfing en-gulfing it. . Her hand was lifted and the palm was kissed twice, then dropped. , Trembling all over she found and struck another match. She was alone in the room. She lit the lamp and stood trying to pull herself together. She looked at the palm of her hand as if she could see upon it the imprint of that violent caress which had been able to turn all the blood in her body into fire. She would stand there until her trembling stopped and her heart quieted qui-eted down. She looked at her hand again and again. She laid it upon her cheek. She wondered if, 'when she returned to the living room, the mark of it could be seen reflected in her eyes, on her lips, in her smile, In everything ev-erything she said, for the kiss continued con-tinued to burn In her. She could not get it out. In the morning the men were up early, digging out their cars and putting put-ting on chains, while the women got breakfast. They left immediately after, and Rob paused to kiss her and say this time without even a glance into her eyes, "I've got to go back to Laramie with them some business to attend to. I'll be home soon. I'll wire you, and you can drive down nd get me." The past week had been almost as hard on Nell on appetite and nerves and sleep as the weeks before, be-fore, and she was thin and strained, j But she dressed very carefully in a six-year-old suit of green tweed and a felt beret of the same shade. The fever that was in her lit her face with color and quickness. Her iris-colored iris-colored eyes darted in every direction. direc-tion. Her lips were tremulous. She laughed a great deal. When she took oft her jacket and sat there in her thin close-fitting yellow sweater he looked like herself again, bright been some blow upon his spirit and it hnd struck him down. Some of his vital flame was quenched. That aulel She hod to bend her head over hor plate to conceal her face as she vividly imagined the agony It must have been to him as one nftcr the other of his cherished horses went under the hammer for a fraction of their worth. And they were the accumulation of many years of grueling gru-eling work. The ranch was stripped now of all except the young stull nnd the band of brood mares. "Will you be able to buy more brood marcs?" she interrupted herself her-self suddenly. "No." "A new stallion?" "No." How soon should she tell him? Should she tell him now, so that they could discuss It while they were driving home? How should she begin It? Rob I've been thinking. And I've got nn idea She stole a look at his face and decided not to tell it now. He looked so how exactly did he look? Not bitter bit-ter today. No nor as angry as he had been before he left, but hard. And very much on guard. That could only be against her. And determined de-termined what was he determined about now? Perhaps Just to keep on punishing her. He always said when he got angry he was angry at himself, him-self, not her. But even if that was so, it amounted to the same thing. He simply oozed ugliness and it disturbed dis-turbed everyone around him. "Rob, I've been thinking. And I've got an idea." Dinner and a highball had mellowed mel-lowed him a little. He put down the periodical he was reading and looked at his pipe and discovered that it had gone out. "What about?" he asked. "Well about our finances." Rob hunted for a match. "What about 'em?" "Well I really think that I've thought of something we could do to make the ranch pay." "When did you think this up?" asked Rob, pausing in the act of lighting his pipe to look at her. , "This week, since since you were here the other night and said that that the sale hadn't paid the way you expected it to." "Oh! So you thought you would step in and save the pieces!" Nell felt consternation. Was it going go-ing to seem like that to him? She was silent. "Well, let's have it," said he with forced joviality. His blue eyes were staring at her over his pipe, and it made her remember Ken's words, "Dad's eyes are the fiercest of all." "Shoot!" he prodded her. "Well it really began with something some-thing you said some years ago." "Ah! Kind of you to remember that! But don't bother to break it tactfully to me, Nell, let's hear what it is." "You said that the Income tax man said that the only ranchers in Wyoming who made money were dude ranchers. And then you said, And he knows." She glanced up at Rob questioningly, hoping he could not see the fine nervous trembling that shook her body. "I remember. Go on." "So that made me think of having dudes." "On this ranch!" "Yes. We had talked about it a few times already, years ago, you remember?" "Aiid you always said it would kill it as a home for you, if we did," reminded Rob. "I know I did." Nell plodded doggedly dog-gedly ahead. "I always hated the idea. But if we were in trouble if you needed money it seemed to me, Rob, I should not let my personal per-sonal inclinations stand in the way." She looked hesitatingly at him, and away again. His face was full of anger rage really and it was shocking to have to look at him. "And so," said he in his best sardonic sar-donic manner, "you simply decided that I was a complete flop. Had failed beyond recovery. And that you had better give up all hope of retaining the thing you love the best your home. Give that up, make this place that I have broken my heart trying to make beautiful for you the camping ground of any Tom, Dick and Harry that wants to squat here " Nell looked at him indignantly. "It's not fair of you to put it that way. It would only be a dude ranch in the summer time. In the winter it would just be our home as it always al-ways has been. And what if I did have the notion that I didn't want to have any dudes here? People can change their minds. And if we need the money, and this would make the difference between being able to pay our bills and not being able to I would be a wash-out if I could not adjust myself to a different way of living for a few months every summer." sum-mer." Her indignation rose. "It's disgraceful to be in debt all the time. I'd rather do anything than that!" "And you imagine," said Rob in the same sardonic manner, -"that you could make the ranch pay with summer dudes?" "Yes. And that's what the income in-come tax man said, didn't he?" "People talk about 'taking' dudes. The real word would be 'getting' dudes. Most ranchers in this state would be glad to 'get' dudes if they could. How would you go about getting get-ting them?" (TO BE CONTINUED) "I have thought of something we could do to make the ranch pay." failure and he dreaded to come home and tell her so. There you are, simply sitting back and waiting for the crash so that you can pick up the pieces. She couldn't blame him. "Tell me about Howard," she said, since he had no intention of talking about the sale. She didn't know yet what the size of the check had been.. Wasn't he even going to tell her that? While he talked about Howard and the school, her mind was divided into several parts, listening, pursuing pursu-ing its own course of reflection and analysis, and observing closely. It wasn't only the hand that had made her sure again of his love. It was having found Gus mending the sleigh in the loft over the stable. And he confessed that Rob had brought it from Denver in the truck and that it was to be a present for her, and that he was to say nothing about it. Not only the hand and the sleigh, but the monkey tree too. Riding one afternoon, she had come upon a big monkey tree around which a trench had been dug. So! He had been doing things for her thinking of her pleasure all the time he was neglecting her and nearly killing her with unhappiness and anxiety. She almost burst out laughing. She almost said, How exactly ex-actly like you, Rob! But Oh, how-how how-how could all this misery and unrest be wiped out between them! How could they get really married and at peace together again? While she was observing his appearance ap-pearance and thinking about that she told him of Ken's trip to the "Valley "Val-ley of the Eagles," where he had found Thunderhead, and seen the Albino Al-bino and his herd of mares. Dressed in one of the well cared for tweed business suits which he wore so well no matter how old they were, and sitting opposite her at the table in the Mountain Hotel grill, he seemed merely like someone she knew. Waves of almost delirious impatience went through her every few minutes. What a horrible state of affairs that you did not feel even as intimate and at peace with your husband as you had when you were engaged to him. Married all these years, a sixteen-year-old son, and again filled with the excitement and passion and frustration and fever of the very first days only much worse. It was not only his aloof manner; there was a deeper change in Rob. His face was hard, he kept his own counsel, he held her at arm's length all that she could understand. But something baffled her. There had |