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Updated: June 26, 2025
An hour ago, as he had told Laura Waynefleet, he would have been well content to stay on at the ranch, and, though she had roused him, he knew that it would cost him an effort to leave it. He was not, he fancied, in love with her.
"Well," he said, "since plain speaking seems admissible, you are probably aware that Laura Waynefleet has nothing beyond a kindly interest in me. She is, I needn't point out, a remarkably sensible young lady." He stopped somewhat abruptly, for Wisbech emerged from the shadows beneath the pillars, and sat down in a chair close by.
In any case, what he said made it clear that he had either purchased, or was about to purchase from Waynefleet, certain land in the valley. After staying half an hour, the men had, Laura understood, set out again for Victoria. When she had told him this, Nasmyth sat thoughtfully silent a minute or two.
Nasmyth knew, from what he had seen on other and larger ranches, that one man could do the work, though he felt that it was more than one could reasonably have expected from Waynefleet. It was, however, clear that somebody did a great deal, and he fancied that it was the rancher's daughter. "Well," continued Waynefleet, "I am disposed to spend a little upon the ranch.
"Still, I scarcely figured the boys would have stood him." They discussed the scheme at length, and when the assembly broke up, Waynefleet approached the table where Gordon, Nasmyth and Wheeler sat under a big lamp. "There is a point I did not mention at the time. It seemed to me it was one that could, perhaps, be arranged," said Waynefleet.
"It is a matter I have provided for. You will be placed in possession of a holding of the size the others fixed upon as convenient when the blocks are divided off." "No larger?" "No," answered Nasmyth; "I am afraid you will have to be content with that." Waynefleet went out, and Gordon turned to Nasmyth. "It's going to cost you something," he said. "You can't charge it on the scheme.
"I fancy," observed Laura half wistfully, "that is, in several respects, fortunate." Then she went on again, and though Gordon felt exceedingly compassionate, he frowned and closed one hand. "It's a sure thing I'll have to tell Waynefleet what kind of a man he is," he said.
"Still, you needn't worry about me. All you have to do is to hand this man over the money and record the new sale. We don't want any unpleasantness, but it has to be done." Waynefleet appeared to recognize that there was no remedy. "In that case there is the difficulty that I can't quite raise the amount paid," he said. "Travelling and my stay in the city have cost me something."
"I've been talking a little sense to Waynefleet this morning. I felt I had to, though I'm afraid it's not going to be any use," he announced. "Whether you were warranted or not is, of course, another matter," said Nasmyth. "Perhaps you were, if you did it on Miss Waynefleet's account. Anyway, I don't altogether understand why you should be sure it will have no effect."
Then it was borne in upon him that in another moment or two he would probably say or do something that he would regret afterwards, and she would resent, and, rising stiffly, he held out his hand. "I must push on to the railroad," he said, and he held the hand she gave him in a firm clasp. "Miss Waynefleet, you saved my life, and I believe I owe you quite as much in other ways.
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