“He says ranching is too tame for him—­dad, think of that!  Too tame, when he knows very well it would mean—­ But he doesn’t seem to care whether we’re together or not.  He says he can make a fortune flying, and he said he might go in partnership with Bland Halliday.  He says we can’t think of being married until he has paid you—­and he imagines he can earn the money with that airplane!  And I know perfectly well he can’t, because if he does make a cent Bland Halliday will cheat him out of it.  And dad—­” Mary V’s voice trembled “—­he went off that morning with that fellow, exactly in the opposite direction from the ranch!  He never intended to come, and he didn’t care enough to tell me, even.  He just went as if nothing in the world mattered!  And we were all hunting—­”

“Well, if you look at it that way it’s easy enough to handle him,” Sudden observed.  “I’ve been thinking myself the young imp showed mighty little thought for you.  Of course you don’t want to marry a fellow like that.”

“Why, I do too!  What, for gracious sake, ever put that idea into your head?  But I don’t want him to act like a perfectly crazy lunatic.  I wish you’d speak to him.  He won’t listen to me—­we just quarrel when I try to reason with him.”

Sudden smoothed down his face with his hand.  “I expect you do, all right.  The dove of peace is going to find mighty poor roosting on your roof, babe, if I’m any judge.”

“I suppose you mean I’m quarrelsome, but you simply don’t understand.  It was Johnny who quarrelled with me because I wanted him to have some sense.  I wish you’d speak to him, dad.”

“Oh, I’ll speak to him,” her dad promised grimly.

Still, he did not immediately proceed to speak.  Instead, he drove the car down to the garage and put it away, passing rather close to the airplane without giving much attention to Johnny.  His casual wave of a hand could have meant almost anything, and Johnny felt a small tremor of apprehension.  When he was merely one of the men on the payroll he had stood just a bit in awe of old Sudden, and he could not all at once throw off the feeling, even though Sudden had willingly enough acknowledged him as a prospective son-in-law.  He allowed a blob of black paint to place a period where no period should be while he stared after Sudden’s bulky form in the dust-covered car.

Sudden busied himself in the garage, turning up grease cups and going over certain squeaky spots with the oil can while he studied the problem before him.  He had once before likened Johnny Jewel to a thoroughbred colt that must be given its head lest its temper be spoiled for all time.  Just now the human colt seemed inclined to bolt where the bolting threatened disaster to Mary V. The question of using the curb or giving a free rein was a nice one; and the old car was given an astonishing amount of oil before Sudden wiped his hands on a bit of waste with the air of a man who had just made an important decision.