"You are right," he said. "That was an abominably unfair shot of Clavering's, Larry. Of course, you couldn't answer him or tell anybody, but it's horribly unfortunate. The thing made the impression he meant it to." "Well," said Larry bitterly, "I have got to bear it with the rest. I can't see any reason for being pleased with anything to-night." Breckenridge nodded, but once more a little twinkle crept into his eyes. "I scarcely think you need worry about one trifle, any way," he said. "If you think Miss Torrance or Miss Schuyler wanted Clavering to drive them, you must be unusually dense. They only asked him to because they have a sense of fairness, and I'd stake a good many dollars on the fact that when Miss Schuyler first saw him she was convulsed with laughter." "Did Miss Torrance seem amused?" Grant asked eagerly. "Yes," said Breckenridge decisively. "She did though she tried to hide it. Miss Torrance has, of course, a nice appreciation of what is becoming. In fact, her taste is only slightly excelled by Miss Schuyler's." Grant stared at him for a moment, and then for the first time, during several anxious months, broke into a great peal of laughter. XXII THE CAVALRY OFFICER The winter was relaxing its iron grip at last and there were alternations of snow and thaw and frost when one evening a few of his scattered neighbours assembled at Allonby's ranch. Clavering was there, with Torrance, Hetty, and Miss Schuyler, among the rest; but though the guests made a spirited attempt to appear unconcerned, the signs of care were plainer in their faces than when they last met, and there were times when the witty sally fell curiously flat. The strain was beginning to tell, and even the most optimistic realized that the legislature of the State was more inclined to resent than yield to any further pressure that could be exerted by the cattle-barons. The latter were, however, proud and stubborn men, who had unostentatiously directed affairs so long that they found it difficult to grasp the fact that their ascendancy was vanishing. Showing a bold front still, they stubbornly disputed possession of every acre of land the homesteaders laid claim upon. The latters' patience was almost gone, and the more fiery spirits were commencing to obstruct their leader's schemes by individual retaliation and occasionally purposeless aggression. Torrance seemed older and grimmer, his daughter paler, and there were moments when anxiety was apparent even in Clavering's usually careless face. He at least, was already feeling the pinch of straitened finances, and his only consolations were the increasing confidence that Torrance reposed in him, and Hetty's graciousness since his capture by the homesteaders. It was, perhaps, not astonishing that he should mistake its meaning, for he had no means of knowing, as Miss Schuyler did, that the cattle-baron's daughter met Larry Grant now and then.