It was about the same time when Colonel Barrington stood talking with his niece and sister in Silverdale Grange.  “And the man threw that trick away, when it was absolutely clear who had the ace—­and wished me to believe that he forgot!” he said.

His face was flushed with indignation, but Miss Barrington smiled at her niece.  “What is your opinion, Maud?”

The girl moved one white shoulder with a little gesture of disdain.  “Can you ask—­after that!  Besides, he twice willfully perverted facts while he talked to me, though it was not in the least necessary.”

Miss Barrington looked thoughtful.  “And yet, because I was watching him, I do not think he plays cards well.”

“But he was a professional gambler,” said the girl.

The elder lady shook her head.  “So we—­heard,” she said.  “My dear, give him a little time.  I have seen many men and women—­and can’t help a fancy that there is good in him.”

“Can the leopard change his spots?” asked Colonel Barrington, with a grim smile.

The little white-haired lady glanced at him as she said quietly, “When the wicked man—­”

CHAPTER IX

COURTHORNE DISAPPEARS

Supper was cooking when Lance Courthorne sat beside the glowing stove in the comfortless general room of a little wooden hotel in a desolate settlement of Montana.  He had a good many acquaintances in the straggling town, where he now and then ran a faro game, though it was some months since he had last been there, and he had ridden a long way to reach it that day.  He was feeling comfortably tired after the exposure to the bitter frost, and blinked drowsily at the young rancher who sat opposite him across the stove.  The latter, who had come out some years earlier from the old country, was then reading a somewhat ancient English newspaper.

“What has been going on here lately?” asked Courthorne.

The other man laughed.  “Does anything ever happen in this place?  One would be almost thankful if a cyclone or waterspout came along, if it were only to give the boys something to talk about.  Still, one of the girls here is going to get married.  I’m not sure old man Clouston finds it helps his trade quite as much as he fancied it would when he fired his Chinamen and brought good-looking waitresses in.  This is the third of them who has married one of the boys and left him.”

“What could he expect!” and Courthorne yawned.  “Who’s the man, and have I seen the girl?”

“I don’t think you have.  So far as I remember, she came since you were here last, and that must be quite a while ago.  Nobody seems to know where Clouston got her from, and she’s by no means communicative about her antecedents; but she’s pretty enough for any man, and Potter is greatly stuck on her.  He sold out a week or two ago—­got quite a pile for the ranch, and I understand he’s going back to the old country.  Any way, the girl has a catch.  Potter’s a straight man, and most of us like him.”