Na-che nodded and without another word, disappeared.  Diana turned to
Enoch.  “Lead ahead, Judge!”

The trail now led around a curve in the wall.  Enoch edged gingerly beyond this and paused.  The trail again was broken, but they were in full view of the cliff dwelling, which was snuggled in an inward curve of the Canyon, filling entirely a gigantic gap in the gray wall.

Diana exclaimed over its mute beauty.  “I must see it!” she said.  “But we can’t bridge this gap without more ropes and more people to help.”

“It looks to me,” Enoch spoke with a sudden smile, “as though the Lord intended me to have a few moments alone with you!”

Diana smiled in return.  “It does, indeed,” she agreed.

“Let’s try to settle ourselves comfortably here in view of the dwelling.  I like to look at it.  We can hear Na-che when she calls.”

The trail was several feet wide at this point.  Diana sat down on a rock, her back to the wall, clasping one knee with her brown fingers.  For a little while Enoch stood looking from the dwelling to Diana, then far out to the glowing peaks across the Canyon to the north.  Finally, he turned to silent contemplation of the lovely, slender figure against the wall.  Diana’s dignity, her utter sweetness, the something quieting and steadying in her personality never had seemed more pronounced to Enoch than in this country of magnificent heights and depths.

“Well,” said Diana, finally, “after you’ve finished your inspection, perhaps you’ll sit down and talk.”

Enoch smiled and established himself beside her.  He refilled his pipe, lighted it and laid it down.  “Miss Allen,” he said abruptly, “you saw the article in the Brown papers?”

“Yes,” replied Diana.

“What did you think of it?”

“I thought what others think, that Brown is an unspeakable cur.”

“I can’t tell you how keenly I feel for you in the matter, Miss Allen.  I would have given anything to have saved you from it.”

“Would you?  I’m not so sure that I would!  You see, I’m just enough of a hero worshiper to be proud to have my name coupled in friendship with that of a great man.”

“A great man!” repeated Enoch quietly, yet with a bitterness in his voice that wrung Diana’s heart.

“Yes, Mr. Huntingdon,” Diana’s voice broke a little and she turned her head away.

The utter silence of the Canyon enveloped them.

At last Enoch said, “You have a big soul, Miss Allen, but you shall not sacrifice one smallest fragment of—­of your perfection for me.  If it is necessary for me to kill Brown, I shall do so.”

Diana gasped, “Enoch!”

Enoch, at the sound of his name on her lips, touched her hand quickly and softly with his own, and as quickly drew it away, jumped to his feet and began to pace the trail.

“Yes, kill him, the cur!  Diana, he did not even leave me a mother in the public mind!  He maligned you.  The burdens that I have carried for all the years, the horrors that I’ve wrestled with, the secret shames that I’ve hidden, he’s exposed them all in the open marketplace.  And he dragged you into my mire!  Diana, each man must be broken in a different way.  Some are broken by money, some by physical fear, some by spiritual fear, some—­”