“I couldn’t leave you, anyway, and hope you’ll be with me a long time yet.”

“It’s possible,” said Keller.  “All the same, I can’t keep my grip on the business long and want a man to help.  But I’m not going to trust a stranger or a hired man.  You see where this leads?”

Sadie saw and made a vague gesture, though her glance was level.

“Very well.  The man who carries on my business must be your husband.  Now there are three or four of the boys in the settlement who could be taught to run the store and hotel, but I allow you don’t want me to choose from them.  Have I got that right?”

“Yes,” said Sadie with quiet calm, although her heart beat.  “None of them would suit.”

Keller knitted his brows and his look was grave.  “They’re good boys, and if you had taken one of that bunch, I’d have been satisfied.  I reckon the trouble is they’re my kind and belong where I do, while you mean to go higher.  Well, that’s right; I’ve put up the dollars to give you a good time, but you can’t get where you want on your own feet.”  He paused with a dry smile.  “I allow you’re smart enough to figure this out.”

“I have,” said Sadie.  “There’s much I don’t know and couldn’t learn here.  If I’m to move up, my husband must help.”

“Then I only know two men round the settlement who could help.  Festing’s my choice.”

A wave of color flushed Sadie’s white skin, but her voice was quiet.  “He isn’t mine.  I allow, in some ways, he’s the better man, but that doesn’t count.”

Keller looked hard at her.  “I used to think your head would guide you, not your heart; but it seems you’re like the rest—­well, I was a very poor man when your mother married me!  Now I like Charnock and he has tone; but if you take him, there’s a risk—­”

“I know the risk.”

“It’s plain!  I’d stop the thing right now if you were a different girl, but you know what you want and how to keep it when it’s got.  It looks as if you had made up your mind?”

Sadie’s hands moved nervously.  She made a sign of agreement, but did not speak, and Keller went on: 

“Anyhow, you’d better understand what you’re up against.  Sometimes you’ll have to hustle Charnock and sometimes hold him tight.  You must keep him off the liquor, and maybe stop him getting after other girls.  Then when you sell out the business, you’ll hold the dollars.”

For a moment Sadie turned her head and then got up and stood by her father’s chair.  Her look was strained but resolute as she put her hand on his arm.

“I know all that!  Bob has plenty of faults, but he’s the man I love.”

Keller took and pressed her hand.  He had some misgivings, but he knew his daughter.

“We all like Charnock, and though I wouldn’t trust him far, I can trust you.  I think you’ve got that right and won’t forget.  Very well, since you want Charnock I’ll get him for you.”