Mrs. Grayson had seen "King" Plummer leave the group about Sylvia, and she marked it with a disapproving eye. She would have spoken to him then, but she had no chance, and she watched him until he borrowed the horse and rode on with the cowboys. Then she looked the other way and saw two figures walking up and down the station platform. They were Sylvia and Harley, engrossed in talk and caring not at all for the passage of the herd. The two brown heads were not far apart, and Mrs. Grayson was near enough to see that Sylvia's color was beautiful. The candidate's wife was annoyed, and, like any other good woman, she was ready to vent her annoyance on somebody. She walked out a little from the station, and presently she met "King" Plummer coming back. He dismounted, returned the horse to its owner, and approached her, the sparkle of enthusiasm in his eyes lighting up his brown face. "That was a pleasant surprise, Mrs. Grayson," he exclaimed. "The leader of those boys was Bill Ascott, whom I've known twenty years, an' he's brought those cattle so cleverly all the way from Montana that they are in as good condition now as they were the day they started. And I had a fine gallop with them, too." He had more to say, but he stopped when he noticed her deeply frowning face. "What is wrong, Mrs. Grayson?" he asked, in apprehension. "Oh, you had a fine gallop, did you!" she said, in a tone of biting irony. "I am glad of it. Mr. William Plummer ought to have his gallop, under any circumstances!" He stared at her in increasing amazement. "I don't know that I'm counted a dull man, but you've got me now, Mrs. Grayson." She pointed to the station platform, where the two brown heads were still not far apart. "Without a word you left the woman that you are going to marry to look at a lot of cattle." "Why, Sylvia is only a child, an' we've been used to each other for years. She understands." "Yes, she will understand, or she isn't a woman," said Mrs. Grayson, and if possible the biting irony of her tone increased. "You will see, too, Mr. William Plummer, that one man at least did not neglect her for the sake of some dusty cattle." Mr. Plummer stared again at the pair on the platform, and a mingled look of pain and apprehension came into his eyes. "You surely can't mean anything of that kind! Why, little Sylvia has promised--" "All things are possible, Mr. Plummer. My husband is a lawyer, and I have heard him quote often a maxim of the law which runs something like this, 'He must keep who can.'" She turned away and would not have another word to say to him then, leaving Mr. Plummer in much perplexity and trouble.