The fire of her lips and the clasp of her arms worked havoc in Tappan. No woman had ever loved him, let alone embraced him. To awake suddenly to such rapture as this made him strong and rough in his response. Then all at once she seemed to collapse in his arms and to begin to weep. He feared he had offended or hurt her, and was clumsy in his contrition. Presently she replied: “Pretty soon--I’ll make you--beat me. It’s your love--your honesty--that’s shamed me.... Tappan, I was party to a trick to--sell you a worthless ranch.... I agreed to--try to make you love me--to fool you--cheat you.... But I’ve fallen in love with you.--An’ my God, I care more for your love--your respect--than for my life. I can’t go on with it. I’ve double-crossed Jake, an’ all of them.... Now, am I worth lovin’? Am I worth havin’?” “More than ever, dear,” he said. “You will take me away?” “Anywhere--any time, the sooner the better.” She kissed him passionately, and then, disengaging herself from his arms, she knelt and gazed earnestly at him. “I’ve not told all. I will some day. But I swear now on my soul--I’ll be what you think me.” “Madge, you needn’t say all that. If you love me--it’s enough. More than I ever dreamed of.” “You’re a man. Oh, why didn’t I meet you when I was eighteen instead of now--twenty-eight, an’ all that between.... But enough. A new life begins here for me. We must plan.” “You make the plans an’ I’ll act on them.” For a moment she was tense and silent, head bowed, hands shut tight. Then she spoke: “To-night we’ll slip away. You make a light pack, that’ll go on your saddle. I’ll do the same. We’ll hide the horses out near where the trail crosses the brook. An’ we’ll run off--ride out of the country.” Tappan in turn tried to think, but the whirl of his mind made any reason difficult. This dark-eyed, full-bosomed woman loved him, had surrendered herself, asked only his protection. The thing seemed marvelous. Yet she knelt there, those dark eyes on him, infinitely more appealing than ever, haunting with some mystery of sadness and fear he could not divine. Suddenly Tappan remembered Jenet. “I must take Jenet,” he said. That startled her. “Jenet--Who’s she?” “My burro.” “Your burro. You can’t travel fast with that pack beast. We’ll be trailed, an’ we’ll have to go fast.... You can’t take the burro.” Then Tappan was startled. “What! Can’t take Jenet?--Why, I--I couldn’t get along without her.” “Nonsense. What’s a burro? We must ride fast--do you hear?” “Madge, I’m afraid I--I must take Jenet with me,” he said, soberly. “It’s impossible. I can’t go if you take her. I tell you I’ve got to get away. If you want _me_ you’ll have to leave your precious Jenet behind.”