One afternoon they dismounted in a clump of willows where early in the season and in wet summers a spring bubbled under a rim rock. Now it was dry, almost dust-dry in places, and the girl sat on the grass while Hilton stretched at her feet, smoking idly. He talked to her for long and when he paused she said, looking far away: "I'd like to see somethin' else besides this. I'd like to have some of the chances other gals have. I'd give anything for a chance to be somebody!" He threw away his cigarette. "I'd give anything to give you a chance, Bobby," he said. "Yes, but you can't!" she laughed hopelessly. "You're a gentleman and I.... Why, I'm just the daughter of a nester." "And maybe that very combination of circumstances gives me my chance to give you yours. "I should like very much to take you east, Bobby." "Yes, but there's Alf. I couldn't leave him,"--shaking her head, still innocent of his intent. Hilton was not unprepared. "But if he had a comfortable ranch, with good buildings and plenty of stock, and could come to visit you at times?" "But he ain't got any of them an' besides-- "You don't mean for me to _stay!_" she said suddenly, eyes incredulous. "To stay, Bobby. To stay with me, forever and ever." She started to laugh but checked herself and leaned suddenly toward him, her lips parted. He lifted himself to an elbow and reached out for her hand. "Don't you understand, dear girl? Don't you see that I love you?" She withdrew her hand from his clasp and looked away, brows drawn toward one another a trifle. He watched her craftily, timing his urging to her realization. "Don't you see that I came west, guided by something bigger than my own reason, directed by something that regulates the loves of men to bring them to a good end?" She looked back at him and shook her head slowly. "I never thought I'd be loved. I never thought you cared for me that-a way." "Bless you! That night when I went walking into your cabin and you met me with a rifle ready I knew I would love you and that you would love me. It's one of the things neither of us can explain, but I was sure of it, sure of it. Didn't you guess? Didn't you feel it deep down in your heart?" "No, never. Nothin' good had ever happened to me. I didn't calculate anything good ever would happen. The only bein' I ever thought I'd love was Alf and I'd go through fire for him.... "But this ... it's different. It ain't like that. This is somethin' ... I don't know...." She rose and pressed her hands to her breast as though some bursting emotion hurt her. Hilton stood before her, his breath a trifle quick, lips parted greedily. His particular hour, he felt, had struck!