Much too good for that black-eyed wench. She was taken with him, too. Her one chance to get away from Lineville! Then Cash Burridge rode in one day—after a long absence. ‘Most as long as yours. Cash had been in somethin’ big, south somewhere. An’ he came back to lie low an’ gamble. He had plenty of money, as usual. Lost it, as usual Lize was clerk at the Gold Mine. She got thick with Cash. He an’ Holder had a mixup over the girl, an’ that settled her. Maybe I didn’t give her a piece of my mind. But I might as well have shouted to the hills. She went from bad to worse. You’ll see.”

“Cash Burridge back,” rejoined Nevada, somberly, and he dropped his head. That name had power to make him want to hide the sudden fire in his eyes. “Reckon I’d plumb forgot Cash.”

“Ha! Ha! Yes, you did, Jim Lacy,” replied the woman, knowingly. “No one would ever forget Cash, much less you… . Dear me, I hope you an’ he don’t meet again.”

“Wal, of course we’ll meet,” said Nevada. “I cain’t hang round your kitchen all the while, much as I like it.”

“Jim, I didn’t mean meet him on the street, or in the store, or anywhere. You know what I meant.”

“Don’t worry, Mother Wood. Reckon Cash an’ I won’t clash. Because I’m not lookin’ for trouble.”

“You never did, my boy, I’ll swear to that. But you never run from it. An’ you know Cash Burridge. He’s bad medicine sober, an’ hell when he’s drunk.”

“Ahuh, I reckon, now you remind me. Has Cash been up to his old tricks lately?”

“I haven’t heard much, Jim,” she returned, thoughtfully. “Mostly just Lineville gossip. No truth in it, likely.”

Nevada knew it would do no good to press her further in this direction, which reticence was proof that Cash Burridge had been adding to his reputation one way or another. Nevada had a curious reaction—a scorn for his own strange, vague eagerness to know. Old submerged or forgotten feelings were regurgitating in him.