Clearly, Helen's education had led to no confusion. On the
contrary, she had found an ideal love, and a happiness such as every
true, womanly woman must, in her heart of hearts, desire.
It was far into the night when Kitty, wakeful and restless, heard the
sound of a horse's feet. She could not know that it was Honorable
Patches riding past on his way to the ranch on the other side of the
broad valley meadows.
Weary in body, and with mind and spirit exhausted by the trials through
which he had passed, Patches crept to his bed. In the morning, when he
delivered his message, the Dean, seeing the man's face, urged him to
stay for the day at the ranch. But Patches said no; Phil was expecting
him, and he must return to the outfit in Granite Basin. As soon as
breakfast was over he set out.
He had ridden as far as the head of Mint Wash, and had stopped to water
his horse, and to refresh himself with a cool drink and a brief rest
beside the fragrant mint-bordered spring, when he heard someone riding
rapidly up the wash the way he had come. A moment later, Kitty, riding
her favorite Midnight, rounded a jutting corner of the rocky wall of the
bluff.
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