"Listen to me," he was saying in that tense whisper which was oddly like the tremor of his hand, "I've been hungry for that voice all these weeks--and months." "I'll tell you what I'm going to do," said the girl, very grave. "I'm going to break up this cowardly conspiracy against you. I've written to my father to get the finest lawyer in the land and send him out here to make you--legal--again." He began to smile, and shook his head. "It's no use," he said. "Perhaps your lawyer could help me on account of Bill's death, but he couldn't help me from Hal." "Are you--do you mean you're going to fight the other man, too?" "He killed his horse chasing me," said Andrew. "I couldn't stop to fight him because I was comin' down here to see you. But when I go away I've got to find him and give him a chance back at me. It's only fair." "Because he killed a horse trying to get you, you're going to give him a chance to shoot you?" Her voice had become shrill. She lowered it instinctively toward the end and cast a glance of apprehension toward the door. "You are quite mad," said the girl. "You don't understand," said Andrew. "His horse was Gray Peter--the stallion. And I would rather have killed a man than have seen Gray Peter die. Hal had Peter's head in his arms," he added softly. "And he'll never give up the trail until he's had it out with me. He wouldn't be half a man if he let things drop now." "So you have to fight Hal Dozier?" "Yes." "But when that's done--" "When that's done one of us will be dead. If it's me, of course, there's no use worryin'; if it's Hal, of course, I'm done in the eyes of the law. Two--murders!" His eyes glinted and his fingers quivered. It sent a cold thrill through the girl. "But they say he's a terrible man, Andrew. You wouldn't let him catch you?" "I won't stand and wait for him," said Andrew gravely. "But if we fight I think I'll kill him." "What makes you think that?" She was more curious than shocked. "It's just a sort of feeling that you get when you look at a man; either you're his master or you aren't. You see it in a flash." "Have you ever seen your master?" asked the girl slowly. "I'll want to die when I see that," he said simply. Suddenly she clenched her hands and sat straight up. "It's got to be stopped," she said hotly. "It's all nonsense, and I'm going to see that you're both stopped." "Four days ago," he said, "you could have taken me in the hollow of your hand. I would have come to you and gone from you at a nod. That time is about to end." He paused a little, and looked at her in such a manner that she was frightened, but it was a pleasant fear. It made her interlace her fingers with nervous anxiety, but it set a fire in her eyes. "That time is ending," said Andrew. "You are about to be married." "And after that you will never look at me again, never think of me again?" "I hope not," he answered. "I strongly hope not." "But why? Is a marriage a blot or a stain?"