Nor did she betray any lack of an unflinching and indomitable spirit.

Wade read the truth of what she imagined was her doom in the white glow of her, in the matured lines of womanhood that had come since yesternight, in the sustained passion of her look.
"Ben! Wilson! The worst has come!" she announced.
Moore could not speak.

Wade held Columbine's hand in both of his.
"Worst! Now, Collie, that's a terrible word.

I've heard it many times.
An' all my life the worst's been comin'.

An' it hasn't come yet.
You--only twenty years old--talkin' wild--the worst has come!...