The little man had removed his hat, so that the sunshine burned brightly on his red hair. Indeed, there was always a flamelike quality about him. In inaction he seemed femininely frail and pale; but when his spirit was roused his eyes blazed as his hair burned in the sunlight. "You shall learn in the end," he said to the girl, "that everything I do, I do for you." She cried out as if he had struck her. "It's not worthy of you," she said bitterly. "You are keeping Jack here--in peril--for my sake?" "For your sake," said Donnegan. She looked at him with a queer pain in her eyes. "To keep you from needless lying," she said, "let me tell you that Jack has told me everything. I am not angry because you come and pretend that you do all these horrible things for my sake. I know my father has tempted you with a promise of a great deal of money. But in the end you will get nothing. No, he will twist everything away from you and leave you nothing! But as for me--I know everything; Jack told me." "He has told you what? What?" "About the woman you love." "The woman I love?" echoed Donnegan, stupefied. It seemed that Lou Macon could only name her with an effort that left her trembling. "The Lebrun woman," she said. "Jack has told me." "Did you tell her that?" he asked Landis. "The whole town knows it," stammered the wounded man. The cunning hypocrisy spurred Donnegan. He put his foot on the threshold of the shack, and at this the girl cried out and shrank from him; but Landis was too paralyzed to stir or speak. For a moment Donnegan was wildly tempted to pour his torrent of contempt and accusation upon Landis. To what end? To prove to the girl that the big fellow had coolly tricked her? That it was to be near Nelly Lebrun as much as to be away from the colonel that he wished so ardently to leave the shack? After all, Lou Macon was made happy by an illusion; let her keep it. He looked at her sadly again. She stood defiant over Landis; ready to protect the helpless bulk of the man. So Donnegan closed the door softly and turned away with ashes in his heart. 35 When Nelly Lebrun raised her head from her hands, Donnegan was a far figure; yet even in the distance she could catch the lilt and easy sway of his body; he rode as he walked, lightly, his feet in the stirrups half taking his weight in a semi-English fashion. For a moment she was on the verge of spurring after him, but she kept the rein taut and merely stared until he dipped away among the hills. For one thing she was quite assured that she could not overtake that hard rider; and, again, she felt that it was useless to interfere. To step between Lord Nick and one of his purposes would have been like stepping before an avalanche and commanding it to halt with a raised hand. She watched miserably until even the dust cloud dissolved and the bare, brown hills alone remained before her. Then she turned away, and hour after hour let her black jog on.