Read Zane Grey for Free Online Page B

Wetzel somewhere out beyond those
frowning hills. Then she remembered that the colonel had told her of
his brother's love for nature in all its forms; how he watched the
shades of evening fall; lost himself in contemplation of the last
copper glow flushing the western sky, or became absorbed in the bright
stars. Possibly he had forgotten her presence. Darkness was rapidly
stealing down upon them. The evening, tranquil and gray, crept over
them with all its mystery. He was a part of it. She could not hope to
understand him; but saw clearly that his was no common personality.
She wanted to speak, to voice a sympathy strong within her; but she
did not know what to say to this borderman.
    "If what your sister tells me of the border is true, I may soon need a
friend," she said, after weighing well her words. She faced him
modestly yet bravely, and looked him straight in the eyes. Because he
did not reply she spoke again.
    "I mean such a friend as you or Wetzel."
    "You may count on both," he replied.
    "Thank you," she said softly, giving him her hand. "I shall not
forget. One more thing. Will you break a borderman's custom, for
my sake?"
    "How?"
    "Come to see me when you are in the settlement?"
    Helen said this in a low voice with just a sob in her breath; but she
met his gaze fairly. Her big eyes were all aglow, alight with girlish
appeal, and yet proud with a woman's honest demand for fair exchange.
Promise was there, too, could he but read it, of wonderful
possibilities.
    "No," he answered gently.
    Helen was not prepared for such a rebuff. She was interested in him,
and not ashamed to show it. She feared only that he might
misunderstand her; but to refuse her proffered friendship, that was
indeed unexpected. Rude she thought it was, while from brow to curving
throat her fair skin crimsoned. Then her face grew pale as the
moonlight. Hard on her resentment had surged the swell of some new
emotion strong and sweet. He refused her friendship because he did not
dare accept it; because his life was not his own; because he was a
borderman.
    While they stood thus, Jonathan looking perplexed and troubled,
feeling he had hurt her, but knowing not what to say, and Helen with a
warm softness in her eyes, the stalwart figure of a man loomed out of
the gathering darkness.
    "Ah, Miss Helen! Good evening," he said.
    "Is it you, Mr. Brandt?" asked Helen. "Of course you know Mr. Zane."
    Brandt acknowledged Jonathan's bow with an awkwardness which had
certainly been absent in his greeting to Helen. He started slightly
when she spoke the borderman's name.
    A brief pause ensued.
    "Good night," said Jonathan, and left them.
    He had noticed Brandt's gesture of surprise, slight though it was, and
was thinking about it as he walked away. Brandt may have been
astonished at finding a borderman talking to a girl, and certainly, as
far as Jonathan was concerned, the incident was without precedent.
But, on the other hand, Brandt may have had another reason, and
Jonathan tried to study out what it might be.
    He gave but little thought to Helen. That she might like him
exceedingly well, did not come into his mind. He remembered his sister
Betty's gossip regarding Helen and her admirers, and particularly
Roger Brandt; but felt no great concern; he had no curiosity to know
more of her. He admired Helen because she was beautiful, yet the
feeling was much the same he might have experienced for a graceful
deer, a full-foliaged tree, or a dark mossy-stoned bend in a murmuring
brook. The girl's face and figure, perfect and alluring as they were,
had not awakened him from his indifference.
    On arriving at his brother's home, he found the colonel and Betty
sitting on the porch.
    "Eb, who is this Brandt?" he asked.
    "Roger Brandt? He's a French-Canadian; came here from Detroit a year
ago. Why do you ask?"
    "I want to know more about him."
    Colonel Zane reflected a moment, first as to this unusual request from
Jonathan, and secondly in regard to what little he really did