He had wandered too far away from home; the path leading back was long ago overgrown with weeds, and could not now be retraced.

One thing he grasped clearly,--the girl should be given her chance; nothing in his life must ever again soil her or lower her ideals.

Mrs.Herndon was right, and he realized it; neither his presence nor his money were fit to influence her future.
He swore between his clinched teeth, his face grown haggard.

The sun's rays bridged the slowly darkening valley with cords of red gold, and the man pulled himself to his feet by gripping the root of a tree.

He realized that he had been sitting there for hours, and that he was hungry.
Down beneath, amid the fast awakening noise and bustle of early evening, the long discipline of the gambler reasserted itself--he got back his nerve.