THE NIGHT WIND'S MYSTERY After the departure of Lawler on the night of Gary Warden's visit to the Hamlin cabin, silence, vast and deep reigned inside.

The last golden shadows from the sinking sun were turning somber shades of twilight as Ruth came to the door and peered outward, to see Lawler riding away.
For a long time the girl watched Lawler, her face burning with shame over what had happened, her senses revolting from the realization of the things Lawler knew concerning her father.

Then she seated herself on the threshold of the doorway, watching the long shadows steal over the plains.
She loved Lawler; she never had attempted to deny it, not even to herself.

And she had found it hard to restrain herself when he had stood outside the door of her room gravely pleading with her.

Only pride had kept her from yielding--the humiliating conviction that she was not good enough for him--or rather that her father's crimes had made it impossible for her to accept him upon a basis of equality.
She felt that Lawler would take her upon any terms--indeed, his manner while in the cabin shortly before convinced her of that; but she did not want to go to him under those conditions.