That story came from some hint which Luke had spread, Corvet thought; but Spearman, born near by the Drum, believed that the Drum had known and that the Drum had tried to tell; all through the years Spearman had dreaded the Drum which had tried to betray him.
So it was by the Drum that, in the end, Spearman was broken.
The priest"s voice had stopped, as Alan slowly realized; he heard Sherrill"s voice speaking to him.
"It was a trust that he left you, Alan; I thought it must be that--a trust for those who suffered by the loss of your father"s ship. I don"t know yet how it can be fulfilled; and we must think of that."
"That"s how I understand it," Alan said.
Fuller consciousness of what Father Perron"s story meant to him was flowing through him now. Wrong, great wrong there had been, as he had known there must be; but it had not been as he had feared, for he and his had been among the wronged ones. The name--the new name that had come to him--he knew what that must be: Robert Alan Stafford; and there was no shadow on it. He was the son of an honest man and a good woman; he was clean and free; free to think as he was thinking now of the girl beside him; and to hope that she was thinking so of him.
Through the tumult in his soul he became aware of physical feelings again, and of Sherrill"s hand put upon his shoulder in a cordial, friendly grasp. Then another hand, small and firm, touched his, and he felt its warm, tightening grasp upon his fingers; he looked up, and his eyes filled and hers, he saw, were br.i.m.m.i.n.g too.
They walked together, later in the day, up the hill to the small, white house which had been Caleb Stafford"s. Alan had seen the house before but, not knowing then whether the man who had owned it had or had not been his father, he had merely looked at it from the outside. There had been a small garden filled with flowers before it then; now yard and roofs were buried deep in snow. The woman who came to the door was willing to show them through the house; it had only five rooms. One of those upon the second floor was so much larger and pleasanter than the rest that they became quite sure that it was the one in which Alan had been born, and where his young mother soon afterward had died.
They were very quiet as they stood looking about.
"I wish we could have known her," Constance said.
The woman, who had showed them about, had gone to another room and left them alone.
"There seems to have been no picture of her and nothing of hers left here that any one can tell me about; but," Alan choked, "it"s good to be able to think of her as I can now."
"I know," Constance said. "When you were away, I used to think of you as finding out about her and--and I wanted to be with you. I"m glad I"m with you now, though you don"t need me any more!"
"Not need you!"
"I mean--no one can say anything against her now!"
Alan drew nearer her, trembling.
"I can never thank you--I can never tell you what you did for me, believing in--her and in me, no matter how things looked. And then, coming up here as you did--for me!"
"Yes, it was for you, Alan!"
"Constance!" He caught her. She let him hold her; then, still clinging to him, she put him a little away.
"The night before you came to the Point last summer, Alan, he--he had just come and asked me again. I"d promised; but we motored that evening to his place and--there were sunflowers there, and I knew that night I couldn"t love him."
"Because of the sunflowers?"
"Sunflower houses, Alan, they made me think of; do you remember?"
"Remember!"
The woman was returning to them now and, perhaps, it was as well; for not yet, he knew, could he ask her all that he wished; what had happened was too recent yet for that. But to him, Spearman--half mad and fleeing from the haunts of men--was beginning to be like one who had never been; and he knew she shared this feeling. The light in her deep eyes was telling him already what her answer to him would be; and life stretched forth before him full of love and happiness and hope.
THE END
ZANE GREY"S NOVELS
May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap"s list.
THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS
A New York society girl buys a ranch which becomes the center of frontier warfare. Her loyal superintendent rescues her when she is captured by bandits. A surprising climax brings the story to a delightful close.
THE RAINBOW TRAIL
The story of a young clergyman who becomes a wanderer in the great western uplands--until at last love and faith awake.
DESERT GOLD
The story describes the recent uprising along the border, and ends with the finding of the gold which two prospectors had willed to the girl who is the story"s heroine.
RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE
A picturesque romance of Utah of some forty years ago when Mormon authority ruled. The prosecution of Jane Withersteen is the theme of the story.
THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN
This is the record of a trip which the author took with Buffalo Jones, known as the preserver of the American bison, across the Arizona desert and of a trip in "that wonderful country of deep canons and giant pines."
THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT
A lovely girl, who has been reared among Mormons, learns to love a young New Englander. The Mormon religion, however, demands that the girl shall become the second wife of one of the Mormons--Well, that"s the problem of this great story.
THE SHORT STOP
The young hero, tiring of his factory grind, starts out to win fame and fortune as professional ball player. His hard knocks at the start are followed by such success as clean sportsmanship, courage and honesty ought to win.