could have been no stronger.  Jean Lovelace relinquished no one, any more than a mother would one of her boys.  I wanted to escape, to get away from observation; I even plead for a month’s leave of absence.  But my reasons were of no avail, and after arguing pro and con for over an hour, I went with her to the house.  If the Almighty ever made a good woman and placed her among men for their betterment, then the presence of Jean Lovelace at Las Palomas savored of divine appointment.

On reaching the yard, we rested a long time on a settee under a group of china trees.  The boys had dispersed, and after quite a friendly chat together, we saw Uncle Lance sauntering out of the house, smiling as he approached.  “Tom’s going to stay,” said Miss Jean to her brother, as the latter seated himself beside us; “but this abuse and blame you’re heaping on him must stop.  He did what he thought was best under the circumstances, and you don’t know what they were.  He has given me his promise to stay, and I have given him mine that talk about this matter will be dropped.  Now that your anger has cooled, and I have you both together, I want your word.”

“Tom,” said my employer, throwing his long bony arm around me, “I was disappointed, terribly put out, and I showed it in freeing my mind.  But I feel better now—­towards you, at least.  I understand just how you felt when your plans were thwarted by an unforeseen incident.  If I don’t know everything, then, since the milk is spilt, I’m not asking for further particulars.  If you did what you thought was best under the circumstances, why, that’s all we ever ask of any one at Las Palomas.  A mistake is nothing; my whole life is a series of errors.  I’ve been trying, and expect to keep right on trying, to give you youngsters the benefit of my years; but if you insist on learning it for yourselves, well enough.  When I was your age, I took no one’s advice; but look how I’ve paid the fiddler.  Possibly it was ordained otherwise, but it looks to me like a shame that I can’t give you boys the benefit of my dearly bought experience.  But whether you take my advice or not, we’re going to be just as good friends as ever.  I need young fellows like you on this ranch.  I’ve sent Dan out after Deweese, and to-morrow we’re going to commence gathering beeves.  A few weeks’ good hard work will do you worlds of good.  In less than a year, you’ll look back at this as a splendid lesson.  Shucks! boy, a man is a narrow, calloused creature until he has been shook up a few times by love affairs.  They develop him into the man he was intended to be.  Come on into the house, Tom, and Jean will make us a couple of mint juleps.”