For in Gilroy's warning he saw only his own shortcomings.

A strange fatality had marked his friendships.

He had been no help to Jim; he had brought no happiness to Susy or Mrs.Peyton, whose disagreement his visit seemed to have accented.

Thinking over the mysterious attack upon himself, it now seemed to him possible that, in some obscure way, his presence at the rancho had precipitated the more serious attack on Peyton.

If, as it had been said, there was some curse upon his inheritance from his father, he seemed to have made others share it with him.