“Better help me hunt some horses that have been running down Lost Canyon way. I'm going to look for them to-morrow,” Keith suggested, as calmly as was compatible with his eagerness and his method of speech. I doubt if any man can whisper things to a girl he loves, and do it calmly. I know Keith's heart was pounding. “I shall probably ride in the opposite direction,” Beatrice told him wickedly. She wondered if he thought she would run at his beck. “I never saw you in this dress before,” Keith murmured, his eyes caressing. “No? You may never again,” she said. “I have so many things to wear out, you know.” “I like it,” he declared, as emphatically as he could, and whisper. “It is just the color of your cheeks, after the wind has been kissing them a while.” “Fancy a cowboy saying pretty things like that!” Beatrice's cheeks did not wait for the wind to kiss them pink. “Ya-as, only fawncy, ye knaw.” His eyes were daringly mocking. “For shame, Mr. Cameron! Sir Redmond would not mimic your speech.” “Good reason why; he couldn't, not if he tried a thousand years.” Beatrice knew this was the truth, so she fell back upon dignity. “We will not discuss that subject, I think.” “I don't want to, anyway. I know another subject a million times more interesting than Sir Redmond.” “Indeed!” Beatrice's eyebrows were at their highest. “And what is it, then?” “You!” Keith caught her hand; his eyes compelled her. “I think,” said Beatrice, drawing her hand away, “we will not discuss that subject, either.” “Why?” Keith's eyes continued to woo. “Because.” It occurred to Beatrice that an unsophisticated girl might easily think Keith in earnest, with that look in his eyes. Dorman, scowling at them over his shoulder, unconsciously did his divinity a service. Beatrice pursed her lips in a way that drove Keith nearly wild, and took up the weapon of silence. “You said you women are alone--where is milord?” Keith began again, after two minutes of lying there watching her. “Sir Redmond is in Helena, on business. He's been making arrangements to lease a lot of land.” “Ah-h!” Keith snapped a twig off a dead willow. “We look for him home to-day, and Dick drove in to meet the train.” “So the Pool has gone to leasing land?” The laugh had gone out of Keith's eyes; they were clear and keen. “Yes--the plan is to lease the Pine Ridge country, and fence it. I suppose you know where that is.” “I ought to,” Keith said quietly. “It's funny Dick never mentioned it.” “It isn't Dick's idea,” Beatrice told him. “It was Sir Redmond's. Dick is rather angry, I think, and came near quarreling with Sir Redmond about it. But English capital controls the Pool, you know, and Sir Redmond controls the English capital, so he can adopt whatever policy he chooses. The way he explained the thing to me, it seems a splendid plan--don't you think so?”