She felt it now in the fact that she no longer sought the rancher as she used to, and he had apparently avoided her.

But then, Columbine reflected, she might be entirely wrong, for when Belllounds did meet her at meal-times, or anywhere, he seemed just as affectionate as of old.

Still he was not the same man.

A chill, an atmosphere of shadow, had pervaded the once wholesome ranch.

And so, feeling not yet well enough acquainted with Wade to confide so intimately in him, she stifled her impulses and resolved to make some effort herself to find out what she wanted to know.
As luck would have it, when she started out to walk down to the Andrews ranch she encountered Jack Belllounds.
"Where are you going ?" he inquired, inquisitively.
"I'm going to see Mrs.Andrews," she replied.
"No, you're not!" he declared, quickly, with a flash.
Columbine felt a queer sensation deep within her, a hot little gathering that seemed foreign to her physical being, and ready to burst out.