"Because no decent man would marry her," returned Douglas flatly. Judith laughed. "You poor old male, you! Will you kindly tell me what man in this valley you consider more decent than Inez?" "I'm decent," said Douglas, flushing, but not the less firmly. Judith's eyes softened. "You've kept that promise, Doug?" "Yes," briefly. "And I wouldn't have a woman like Inez if she was as beautiful as Cleopatra and as rich as Hetty Green!" "Well," airily, "that eliminates you, of course. But let me warn you, Douglas, that if Inez Rodman really loved a man and wanted to marry him, he'd have about as much chance as a coyote used to have when Sister was young enough to run them. Only, if Inez ever does love a man, she won't marry him. She'll keep herself a mystery to him. 'And forever would he love and she be fair.'" "What's that you're quoting?" asked Douglas. Judith, her eyes on the window through which shouldered the great flank of Dead Line Peak, repeated the immortal lines. When she had finished, Douglas sighed. "It's very beautiful!" he said. "But life isn't a procession round a Grecian Urn. It's hard riding from start to finish. And it's a poor sport that won't accept that fact and ride according to the rules. Marriage is one of the rules. I believe in it." Judith walked slowly round the table and put a hand on either shoulder. There was a baffling light in her splendid gray eyes as she said, "Douglas, do you think for a minute that if I told you I loved you madly, I couldn't persuade you not to marry me?" Her touch was flame. Douglas drew a long, uncertain breath. "If you said that you loved me madly, you could do almost anything with me, I suppose. The only thing that keeps me steady is believing that you don't love me." Judith smiled curiously. Douglas lifted her hands from his shoulders. "Don't torture me, Jude," he said, his voice husky and his fingers uncertain, as he lighted a cigarette. "I wouldn't torture you, any more than I'd torture myself," replied Judith. She leaned against the window-frame, looking out at the serenity of the mountain. "Life," she said suddenly, "is like climbing to the top of Falkner's Peak. Terribly difficult and frightfully wearing, but O, what marvelous views as you reach shoulder after shoulder! Inez is beginning to find life rather a dreary kind of mess. But not I! The Lord knows, my life looks stupid to every one but me, and the Lord knows, I'm restless and unhappy. But I never stop thinking for a minute that it's great, just great to be alive and--and alive." Douglas smiled a little uncertainly. "Do you ever think twice the same way, Jude?" "Once in a while! In fact, I'm getting that way more and more. You'll see! I'm going to get me educated, Douglas, and find me a real job. See if I don't!" Douglas put on his gloves. "I couldn't be any prouder of you, Judith, if you had all the education in the world. Don't forget to come up on Sunday."