And I've got to marry him--on October first! Oh, God pity me!" Blindly Columbine reeled out of her saddle and slowly dropped to the grass, where she burst into a violent storm of sobs and tears.

It shook her every fiber.

It was hopeless, terrible grief.

The dry grass received her flood of tears and her incoherent words.
Wade dismounted and, kneeling beside her, placed a gentle hand upon her heaving shoulder, but he spoke no word.

By and by, when the storm had begun to subside, he raised her head.
"Lass, nothin' is ever so bad as it seems," he said, softly.