“We’ve threshed all that out, haven’t we?” asked Kate impatiently.  “Why go over the ground again?  But I must say, if a woman of your intelligence—­and my friend at that—­can’t see why I’m taking an uphill road, alone, instead of walking in a pleasant valley with the best of companions, then I can hardly expect any one else to sympathize with me.  However, what does it matter?  I said I was going alone so why should I complain?”

Her glance fell on the fireplace before which she and Karl had sat the night when he first welcomed her beneath his roof.  She remembered the wild silence of the hour, the sense she had had of the invisible presence of the mountains, and how Karl’s love had streamed about her like shafts of light.

“I’ve seen nothing of Karl,” said Honora abruptly.  “He went up the trail yesterday morning, and hasn’t been back to the house since.”

“He didn’t come home last night?  He didn’t sleep in his bed?”

“No, I tell you.  He’s had the Door of Life slammed in his face, and I suppose he’s pretty badly humiliated.  Karl isn’t cut out to be a beggar hanging about the gates, is he?  Pence and crumbs wouldn’t interest him.  I wonder if you have any idea how a man like that can suffer?  Do you imagine he is another Ray McCrea?”

“Pour my coffee, please, Honora,” said Kate.

Honora took the hint and said no more, while Kate hastily ate her breakfast.  When she had finished she said as she left the table:—­

“I’d be glad if you’ll tell the stable-man that I’ll not take the morning train.  I’m sorry to change my mind, but it’s unavoidable.”

The smart traveling-suit she had purchased in Los Angeles was her equipment that morning.  To this she added her hat and traveling-veil.

“If you’re going up the mountain,” said the maladroit Honora, “better not wear those things.  They’ll be ruined.”

“Oh, things!” cried Kate angrily.  She stopped at the doorway.  “That wasn’t decent of you, Honora.  I am going up the mountain—­but what right had you to suppose it?”

The whole household knew it a moment later—­the maids, the men at the stables and the corral.  They knew it, but they thought more of her.  She went so proudly, so openly.  The judgment they might have passed upon lesser folk, they set aside where Wander and his resistant sweetheart were concerned.  They did not know the theater, these Western men and women, but they recognized drama when they saw it.  Their deep love of romance was satisfied by these lovers, so strong, so compelling, who moved like demigods in their unconcern for the opinions of others.

Kate climbed the trail which she and Wander had taken together on the day when she had mockingly proclaimed her declaration of independence.  She smiled bitterly now to think of the futility of it.  Independence?  For whom did such a thing exist?  Karl Wander was drawing her to him as that mountain of lode in the Yellowstone drew the lightnings of heaven.