"Will you promise again?" she asked, lightly. Here was Nell with
arch eyes, yet not the old arch eyes, so full of fun and mischief.
Her lips were tremulous; her cheeks seemed less round.
"Yes," rejoined Belding; and he knew why his voice was a little
thick.
"Well, if you weren't such a good old blind Dad you'd have seen
long ago the way Mr. Radford Chase ran round after me. At first
it was only annoying, and I did not want to add to your worries.
But these two weeks you've been gone I've been more than annoyed.
After that time I struck Mr. Chase with my quirt he made all
possible efforts to meet me. He did meet me wherever I went. He
sent me letters till I got tired of sending them back.
"When you left home on your trips I don't know that he grew bolder,
but he had more opportunity. I couldn't stay in the house all the
time. There were mama's errands and sick people and my Sunday
school, and what not. Mr. Chase waylaid me every time I went out.
If he works any more I don't know when, unless it's when I'm asleep.
He followed me until it was less embarassing for me to let him walk
with me and talk his head off. He made love to me. He begged me
to marry him. I told him I was already in love and engaged to be
married. He said that didn't make any difference. Then I called
him a fool.
"Next time he saw me he said he must explain. He meant I was being
true to a man who, everybody on the border knew, had been lost in
the desert.
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