"She the same as lied for him. I
don't want to hear no more after that."
The mountain man rode with downdrooped head. Daddy John, who did not
know what he did, might well come to such conclusions. _He_ knew the
secret of the girl's contradictory actions. He looked into her
perturbed spirit and saw how desperately she clung to the letter of her
obligation, while she repudiated the spirit. Understanding her
solicitude for David, he knew that it was strengthened by the
consciousness of her disloyalty. But he felt no tenderness for these
distracted feminine waverings. It exhilarated him to think that while
she held to the betrothed of her father's choice and the bond of her
given word, her hold would loosen at his wish. As he had felt toward
enemies that he had conquered--crushed and subjected by his will--he
felt toward her. It was a crowning joy to know that he could make her
break her promise, turn her from her course of desperate fidelity, and
make her his own, not against her inclination, but against her pity,
her honor, her conscience.
The spoor left by his horse the night before was clear in the
starlight.
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