and to become more than ever an image of despair.

The evening of the fourth day there was a
dance. It was one of the regular monthly affairs,
and because Helen was a member of the committee
she felt it her duty to attend. One of the
young men, accompanied by his mother and sister,
drove out for her, but she left the house with reluctance
and a marked predisposition not to enjoy
herself. But she forgot this when she presently
beheld the young man from the East whom she
had encountered on the mesa. He was standing
close beside a rather frail little woman, undoubtedly
his mother, who with the matrons of the town
was seated near a fireplace watching the dancers.
He was introduced. Later they sat out one of
his numbers alone together in a corner behind
some potted palms. In the course of their conversation
Helen informed him of the disappearance
of her horse, and asked him, as she asked
everybody she met now, if he knew anything or
had heard anything concerning the loss. The
young man knew nothing of the great disappearance,
however, though he did offer it as his belief
that a horse of Pat's obvious value could not
long remain in obscurity. This was encouraging,
and Helen felt herself become hopeful again. But
when he offered his services in the search, as he
did presently, she felt not only hopeful again, but
somehow quite certain now that it would all be
cleared up. For there was that in this young
gentleman which caused confidence. What she

[[113]]

p112 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p113w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p114

v?