"That would be impossible," I said; and my companion smiled.
"Hold fast by your blunt directness if you are wise," she said. "I was blinded by the critical faculty, and you rebuked me by clinging to your visionary ideal, while I--misjudged you. I do not mind admitting now that it hurt me, the more so when I found that Lucille, being--and there is truth in the phrase--unspotted by the world, believed in you implicitly. It was because of this I allowed you to speak as you have done. I felt that I must ask your forgiveness, because we shall probably never meet again."
Whether Beatrice Haldane was correct in her own estimate I do not know; but she was the most queenly woman I had ever met, and I lifted the rent hat as I said: "Circumstances betrayed me, and you could do no wrong. Even if that had been possible, how far would one suspicion count against all that the girl in England has done for me? Now it only remains for us to part good friends--and with full sincerity I wish you every happiness."
"Thank you," said Beatrice quietly; and without another word we walked back towards the house together through the velvet dusk. I noticed that Lucille glanced at us sharply as we entered.
"You will not forget our appointment in Winnipeg," said Haldane, as they drove away; and I stood still long after the vehicle had melted into the prairie. What I thought I do not remember; but it was with a dreamy calmness that, now the worst had passed, I returned to Crane Valley.
Reluctance mingled with my anticipation when I proceeded to Winnipeg at the appointed time. The harvest was almost ready, and a brief holiday possibly justifiable in anticipation of that time of effort; but the journey was long and expensive, while, after our severe economies, I had fallen into the habit of slow consideration each time I spent a dollar. Steel laughed when I said so, and pointed to the grain. "It's easier to get used to prosperity than the other thing," he said. "There is plenty money yonder to start you again. If necessary you can remember you have earned a good time."
The sight of the long waves of deepening ochre that rolled before the warm breeze was very reassuring, though belief came slowly, and for days I had feared some fresh disaster. Their rhythmical rustle, swelled by the murmur of the wheat heads and the patter of the oats, made sweet music, for their undertone was hope, while the flash and flicker of the bending blades presaged the glitter of hard-won gold--gold that would set me a free man again. Then I was ashamed, and my voice a trifle husky, as I said: "I am certainly going to Winnipeg, Steel. If it had not been for the others the harvest would have left me in the grip of Lane, and now that the time has come I mean to stand by them."