"Don't--don't cry like that! I--Miss Lansell--Trix--darling!" Keith's self-control snapped suddenly, like a rope when the strain becomes too great. He caught her fiercely in his arms, and crushed her close against him.

Beatrice stopped crying, and gasped.

"Trixie, if you must cry, I wish you'd cry for me. I'm about as miserable a man--I want you so! G.o.d made you for me, and I'm starving for the feel of your lips on mine." Then Keith, who was nothing if not daring, once he was roused, bent and kissed her without waiting to see if he might--and not only once, but several times.

Beatrice made a half-hearted attempt to get free of his arms, but Keith was not a fool--he held her closer, and laughed from pure, primitive joy.

"Mr. Cameron!" It was Beatrice's voice, but it had never been like that before.

"I think you might call me Keith," he cut in. "You've got to begin some time, and now is as good a time as any."

"You--you're taking a good deal for granted," she said, wriggling unavailingly in his arms.

"A man's got to, with a girl like you. You're so used to turning a fellow down I believe you'd do it just from habit."

"Indeed?" She was trying to be sarcastic and got kissed for her pains.

"Yes, 'indeed.'" He mimicked her tone. "I want you. I want you! I wanted you long before I ever saw you. And so I'm not taking any chances--I didn't dare, you see. I just had to take you first, and ask you afterward."

Beatrice laughed a little, with tears very close to her lashes, and gave up. What was the use of trying to resist this masterful fellow, who would not even give her a chance to refuse him? She did not know quite how to say no to a man who did not ask her to say yes. But the queer part, to her, was the feeling that she would have hated to say no, anyway. It never occurred to her, till afterward, that she might have stood upon a pedestal of offended dignity and cried, "Unhand me, villain!"--and that, if she had, Keith would undoubtedly have complied instantly. As it was, she just laughed softly, and blushed a good deal.

"I believe mama is right about you, after all," she said wickedly. "At heart, you're a bold highwayman."

"Maybe. I know I'd not stand and see some other fellow walk off with my Heart's Desire, without putting up a fight. It did look pretty blue for me, though, and I was afraid--but it's all right now, isn't it?

Possession is nine points in law, they say, and I've got you now! I'm going to keep you, too. When are you going to come over and take charge of the Cross ranch?"

"Dear me!" said Beatrice, snuggling against his shoulder, and finding it the best place in the world to be. "I never said I was going to take charge at all!" Then the impulse of confession seized her. "Will you hate me, if I tell you something?"

"I expect I will," Keith a.s.sented, his eyes positively idolatrous. "What is it, girlie?"

"Well, I--it was d.i.c.k's fault; I never would have thought of such a thing if he hadn't goaded me into it--but--well, I was going to make you propose, on a wager--" The brown head of Beatrice went down out of sight, on his arm. "I was going to refuse you--and get Rex--"

"I know." Keith held her closer than ever. "d.i.c.k rode over and told me that day. And I wasn't going to give you a chance, missy. If you hadn't started to cry, here-- Oh! what's the use? You didn't refuse me--and you're not going to, either, are you, girlie?"

Beatrice intimated that there was no immediate danger of such a thing happening.

"You see, d.i.c.k and I felt that you belonged to me, by rights. I fell in love with a picture of you, that you sent him--that one taken in your graduation gown--and I told d.i.c.k I was going to take the next train East, and carry you off by force, if I couldn't get you any other way.

But d.i.c.k thought I'd stand a better show to wait till he'd coaxed you out here. We had it all fixed, that you'd come and find a prairie knight that was ready to fight for you, and he'd make you like him, whether you wanted to or not; and then he'd keep you here, and we'd all be happy ever after. And d.i.c.k would pull out of the Northern Pool--and of course you would--and we'd have a company of our own. Oh! we had some great castles built out here on the prairie, let me tell you! And then, when you finally came here, you had milord tagging along--and you thinking you were in love with him! Maybe you think I wasn't shaky, girlie! The air castles got awfully wobbly, and it looked like they were going to cave in on us. But I was bound to stay in the game if I could, and d.i.c.k did all he could to get you to looking my way--and it's all right, isn't it, Trixie?" Keith kept recurring to the ecstatic realization that it was all right.

Beatrice meditated for a minute.

"I never dreamed--d.i.c.k never even mentioned you in any of his letters,"

she said, in a rather dazed tone. "And when I came he made me believe you were a horrible flirt, and I never can resist the temptation to measure lances."

"And take a fall out of a male flirt," Keith supplemented. "d.i.c.k," he went on sententiously and slangily, "was dead onto his job." After that he helped her into the saddle, and they rode blissfully homeward.

Near the ranch they met d.i.c.k, who pulled up and eyed them anxiously at first, and then with a broad smile.

"Say, Trix," he queried slyly, "who does Rex belong to?"

Keith came to the rescue promptly, just as a brave knight should. "You,"

he retorted. "But I tell you right now, he won't very long. You're going to do the decent thing and give him to Trixie--for a wedding present."

d.i.c.k looked as though Trix was welcome to any thing he possessed.

CHAPTER 14. Sir Redmond Gets His answer.

"Before long, dear, we shall get on the great ship, and ride across the large, large ocean, and be at home. You will be delighted to see Peggy, and Rupert, and the dogs, won't you, dear?" Miss Hayes, her cheeks actually getting some color into them at the thought of going home, b.u.t.tered a fluffy biscuit for her idol.

Dorman took two bites while he considered. "Rupert'll want my little wheels, for my feet, what Mr. Cam'ron gave me--but he can't have 'em, dough. I 'spect he'll be mad. I wonder what'll Peggy say bout my two puppies. I've got to take my two puppies wis me. Will dey get sick riding on de water, auntie? Say, will dey?"

"I--I think not, dear," ventured his auntie cautiously. His auntie was a conscientious woman, and she knew very little about puppies.

"Be'trice will help me take care of dem if dey're sick," he remarked comfortably.

Then something in his divinity's face startled his a.s.surance. "You's going wis us, isn't you, Be'trice? I want you to help take care of my two puppies. Martha can't, 'cause she slaps dere ears. Is you going wis us, Be'trice?"

This, at the dinner table, was, to say the least, embarra.s.sing--especially on this especial evening, when Beatrice was trying to muster courage to give Sir Redmond the only answer it was possible to give him now. It was an open secret that, in case she had accepted him, the home-going of Miss Hayes would be delayed a bit, when they would all go together. Beatrice had overheard her mother and Miss Hayes discussing this possibility only the day before. She undertook the impossible, and attempted to head Dorman off.

"Perhaps you'll see a whale, honey. The puppies never saw a whale, I'm sure. What do you suppose they'd think?"

"Is you going?"

"You'd have to hold them up high, you know, so they could see, and show them just where to look, and--"

"Is you going, Be'trice?"

Beatrice sent a quick, despairing glance around the table. Four pairs of eyes were fixed upon her with varying degrees of interest and anxiety.

The fifth pair--d.i.c.k's--were trying to hide their unrighteous glee by glaring down at the chicken wing on his plate. Beatrice felt a strong impulse to throw something at him. She gulped and faced the inevitable.

It must come some time, she thought, and it might as well be now--though it did seem a pity to spoil a good dinner for every one but d.i.c.k, who was eating his with relish.

"No, honey"--her voice was clear and had the note of finality--"I'm not going--ever."

Sir Redmond's teeth went together with a click, and he picked up the pepper shaker mechanically and peppered his salad until it was perfectly black, and Beatrice wondered how he ever expected to eat it. Mrs.

Lansell dropped her fork on the floor, and had to have a clean one brought. Miss Hayes sent a frightened glance at her brother. d.i.c.k sat and ate fried chicken.

"Why, Be'trice? I wants you to--and de puppies'll need you--and auntie, and--" Dorman gathered himself for the last, crushing argument--"and Uncle Redmon' wants you awf'lly!"

Beatrice took a sip of ice water, for she needed it.

"Why, Be'trice? Gran-mama'll let you go, guess. Can't she go, gran'mama?"

It was Mrs. Lansell's turn to test the exquisite torture of that p.r.i.c.kly chill along the spine. Like Beatrice, she dodged.

"Little boys," she announced weakly, "should not speak until they're spoken to."