"This thing has gradually been growing on us." "That's true," he assented. Musingly she went on: "I little thought when I came out here to Denver to play in a little stock company, that it was going to bring me all this happiness; but it has, hasn't it?" He smiled indulgently and caressed her golden hair. Changing her position, she got up and sat on his knee, her arms around his neck. After a moment's silence she said: "Now the season's over, there's nothing to keep me in Colorado. I've got to go back to New York and work." "I know," he replied gloomily. "I've been awake all night thinking about it." "Well?" she asked anxiously. "Well?" he repeated, without satisfying her curiosity. "What are we going to do?" she inquired. He remained silent for a moment; then he said: "Why, you've got to go, I suppose." "Is it good-bye?" He nodded gloomily. "For a while, I suppose--it's good-bye." Turning his face round so she could see it, she looked searchingly at him. "What do you mean by 'a while'?" "Until I get money enough together, and am making enough to support you. Then I'll come and take you out of the show business and make you Mrs. Madison." She tightened her arm around his neck and placed her cheek lovingly against his. In one fond, pure caress she showed him all the affection of which a woman is capable. Fondling up against him she seemed like a dainty little kitten purring close to its master. Her every thought and desire seemed to be centered on this man, who had taught her for the first time the meaning of the word "love." Tenderly she said: "John, that is what I want above everything else." He smiled fondly at her. Gravely he said: "But, Laura, dear, we must come to some distinct understanding before we start to make our plans. We're not children." "No, we're not," she assented positively. Rising from his knee, she went to the side of the porch and, leaning her elbows on the balustrade, gazed meditatively out into the valley. "Now, in the first place," he continued, "we'll discuss you, and in the second place we'll discuss me. We'll keep nothing from each other, and we'll start out on this campaign of decency and honor, fully understanding its responsibilities, without a chance of a come-back on either side." Laura turned and looked at him. Her face was pale and serious. Yes, plain words must be spoken between them and the proper time was now--so he might yet draw back, if he found he could not take her as she was. "You mean," she said in a tone so low that he hardly caught it, "that we should tell each other all about each other so, no matter what is said about us by other people, _we'll_ know it first." Madison rose and paced the porch nervously: "That's precisely what I'm trying to get at," he said. The girl was silent for a moment; then hesitatingly she said: