She had walked on while Clement was speaking, and stood leaning against the browsing horse. After a little hesitation she answered, "If you are thirsty." [Illustration] The words were light, but he understood her. He drank and then came straight toward her. She shrank from him in sudden timidity and said a little hurriedly, "Help me into the saddle. I shall need to ride back." _WESTWARD VISTA_ _The half-sunk sun Burns through the dusty-crimson sky; Streamers of gold and green soar In radiating splendor, like the spokes Of God's unmeasurable chariot-wheels Half-hid and vanishing. Around me is coolness, ripeness and repose; The smell of gathered grain and fruits, And the musky breath of melons fills the air. The very dust is fruity, and the click Of locusts' wings is like the close Of gates upon great stores of wheat. The gathered barley bleaches in shock, The corn breathes on me from the west, And the sky-line widens on and on Until I see the waves of yellow-green Break on the hills that face the snow and lilac peaks Of Colorado's mountains._ CHAPTER I At first Clement's happiness had no further base of uneasiness than the lover's fear of loss. It all seemed too good to be true, and he had a hidden fear that something might happen to set him back where he was before she came. It was quite like his feeling about his mine--it took him a certain length of time before he ceased to dream of its sudden loss, and now it seemed (when absent from her) that it would be easy for something to rob him of this love which was his life. This feeling was mixed, too, with a feeling of his unworthiness, which deepened the more closely he studied her. She was so free from all bruise and stain of life's battle. There were no questionable places in her life. Could he say as much? Whenever he asked himself the question his dealings with the stockholders of "The Biddy" came into his mind. Could he afford to tell his bride all the facts in the case? This feeling of dissatisfaction with himself led him to do many extravagant things. He presented her with beautiful and costly jewels for which she had little taste. "Why, Richard. What made you think of that?" she said once after he had slipped away to the city to buy her something. "Is it so very pretty?" "It is beautiful! But can we afford such things?" "We can afford anything that will make you happy." He made a similar answer when she drew back a little startled at the cost of the house he had contracted for. "Why, it is a palace!" "The best is scarcely good enough for you." After a moment he added, "You see, I know you can never live East again, and I want you to have all the comforts of a palace out here. And so long as 'The Witch' holds out you shall have your heart's desire."