tery of his disappearance, had sounded it as
clearly as though she had been present.

"Pat's rightful owners have found him and
put in their claim!" She got up and began to
pace the floor. "I know it," she declared with
conviction. "I know it as well as I know I'm in
this room. Pat -- Pat has been -- been taken and -- and--"
Tears choked back her words. Again
she turned to her bed and gave way to a paroxysm
of grief.

Her tears lasted until sleep mercifully descended.
And thus she lay, outstretched and disheveled,
until the sun, slanting across the room, settled
its mellow rays upon her. And even though the
touch was light and gentle and somehow sympathetic,
it awoke her. She rose and hurried to a
window. Out in the corral all was quiet. She
dropped into a chair and turned her eyes to the
east -- out over the mesa to the distant mountains.
The mountains were draped in their evening
purple, which seemed to her like mourning for
her lost happiness -- a happiness that might have
been hers always with the horse.

[[97]]

p096 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p097w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p098

v?