Part 78 (1/2)

”_Him_? Him?”

”Yes, him. Bill. Mr. William H. Wingo. The sheriff of Crocker County. That's what _I'd_ do if _I_ loved him.”

”I don't love him,” snapped Hazel, the s.h.i.+ne in her black eyes giving the lie to her words.

”You blessed child,” said Sally Jane, and threw her arms around Hazel and drew her to her breast. ”You blessed child. I don't know what ever came between you and Bill, but something did, and if you've got an atom of sense in your head, you'll move heaven and earth to make it up with him.”

”He doesn't love me any more,” declared Hazel, her emotion getting the better of her.

”Do you love him?” probed the older girls.

A p.r.o.nounced sniffle.

”Do you?”

”I always have,” came the dragging confession.

”Then, for heaven's sake, tell him so! I'll bet he loves you fast enough! Land alive, if you've got Love in your grasp, don't turn it down! Love is the greatest thing in the world, and if you throw it away, you'll never have any luck the rest of your life. And you won't deserve any either.”

Hazel drew out a damp ball of a handkerchief and blew her nose vigorously. ”It's no use,” she told her friend with a catch in her voice. ”I couldn't tell him. I just couldn't.”

Sally Jane flung up her hands. ”You're a coward, that's what you are.

A moral coward. If I loved a man, which I don't, I'd tell him so, that is, providing he didn't tell me first,” she added thoughtfully.

Hazel stooped to pick up a fallen chemise. ”You're--you're different, Sally Jane. Besides, he doesn't love me any more. So it wouldn't do any good.”

”Oh, no, of course not,” Sally Jane waxed sarcastic. ”And they say all mules are quadrupeds! Look here, Hazel, if it hadn't been for him, you'd be in a fine fix right now. Why, that Rale man-- Oh, you make me so mad I could shake you! I've told you more'n once how much you owe Bill. Look how he fought for you. Look-- Oh, Lord! Haven't you got any grat.i.tude at all?”

”Plenty,” Hazel replied over her shoulder. ”But my grat.i.tude can't make him love me.”

Sally Jane put her hand on her friend's shoulders and turned her around. ”I tell you, you're making a mistake. I tell you he does love you. You remember that last winter he came here several times, and he certainly didn't come to see me or Dad. And you weren't overly cordial, you know, Hazel. You didn't fall on his neck exactly.”

”I'm not going to throw myself at any man's head!”

”Oh, don't be so high-strung! You're too proud for any human use! And Bill's just like you, the stiff-necked lollop!”

”He is not!” Hazel cried, with a decided flash of temper. ”He's not stiff-necked! He's not a lollop! Oh, Sally dear, don't spoil everything,” she begged. ”You've been so good to me.”

Sally Jane immediately changed her tune. ”But why leave here? Why go home?”

”Because I've imposed on you long enough. I'll be safe there--now.”

Sally Jane looked long into the eyes of Hazel Walton. ”All right,” she said shortly. ”I'll drive you over myself.”

Billy Wingo stretched out his long legs and absent-mindedly hacked the edge of his desk with a pocket knife. ”I told her she'd have to come to me and put her arms around my neck and tell me I was right and she was wrong, and now I've got to stick to it, damitall! Bill, you idiot, you always did let your tongue run away with you. Always. And now she won't make it up. Three days now, since I got my job back, and not a word. Not a word. Well, one thing is certain sure, I ain't going to run after her. I ain't, not by a jugful.”

”His lips are moving, but he ain't sayin' anything,” announced Riley Tyler in a loud, cheerful tone. ”Do you think he's going crazy, Shotgun, or is it only the beginnings of droolin' old age?”

”I dunno,” said Shotgun. ”Better watch him. If he begins to gibber and pull out his hair, he's looney and we'll have to tie him down, I expect. Is your rope strong, Riley?”