She broke impatiently into his argument. “Don’t you see how I feel, Justin? I’ve got to do what I can for him. We’re not in a city where we can ring up for a trained nurse. I’m the only available woman that can get in to him. Why did I take my Red Cross training if I’m not to help those who are sick?” “Can’t you trust me to look out for him?” “Of course I can. That’s not the point. There’s so much in nursing. Any doctor will tell you so. Maybe he needs expert care. I really can nurse. I’ve done it all my life.” “You don’t expect to nurse everybody in the county that falls sick, do you? Don’t you see, dear girl, that Black’s shack is no place for you?” “Why isn’t it? I’m a ranchman’s daughter. It doesn’t shock or offend me to see things that might distress a city girl.” She cast about in her mind for another way to put it. “I remember my mother leaving us once for days to look after a homesteader who had been hurt ’way up on Rabbit Ear Creek. Why, that’s what all the women on the frontier did.” “The frontier days are past,” he said. “And that’s beside the point, anyhow. I’ll have him well looked after. You needn’t worry about that.” “But I would,” she urged. “I’d worry a lot. I want to go myself, Justin--to make sure it’s all right and that everything’s being done for him that can be. You think it’s just foolishness in me, but it isn’t.” She put her hand shyly on his sleeve. The gesture was an appeal for understanding of the impulse that was urgent in her. If he could only sympathize with it and acknowledge its obligation. “I think it’s neither necessary nor wise. It’s my duty, not yours, to have him nursed properly. I’ll not shirk it.” He spoke with the finality of a dominant man who has made up his mind. Betty felt thrown back on herself. She was disappointed in him and her feelings were hurt. Why must he be so obtuse, so correct and formal? Why couldn’t he see that she _had_ to go? After all, a decision as to what course she would follow lay with her and not with him. He had no right to assume otherwise. She was determined to go, anyhow, but she would not quarrel with him. “When are you going up to Black’s?” she asked. “At once.” “Do take me, please.” He shook his head. “It isn’t best, dear girl.” In her heart flamed smokily rebellious fires. “Then I’ll go with Billy.” He interpreted the words as a challenge. Their eyes met in a long, steady look. Each measured the strength of the other. It was the first time they had come into open conflict. “I wouldn’t do that, Betty,” he said quietly. “You don’t know how I feel about it. You won’t understand.” Her voice shook with emotion. “I’ve _got_ to go.” Merrick knew that he could prevent the ranger from guiding Betty to the gulch where the wounded man was, but it was possible to pay too great a price for victory. He yielded, grudgingly.