I'll do without happiness rather than snatch it from a friend who
has not only spoken her trust, but proved it."
Therefore, although her heart gave a great bound as she saw Burt riding
toward the house in the late afternoon, she went to her father and said:
"Mr. Clifford is coming. I wish you would be present during his call."
The young fellow was received cordially, and Mr. Hargrove acknowledged
his indebtedness so feelingly that Burt flushed like a girl, and was
greatly embarrassed. He soon recovered himself, however, and chatted in
his usual easy and spirited way. Before he left he asked, hesitatingly,
"Would you like a souvenir of our little episode yesterday?" and took
from his pocket the rattles of the snake he had killed.
"It was not a little episode," Gertrude replied, gravely. "I shall indeed
value the gift, for it will remind me that I have a friend who did not
count the cost in trying to help me."
Impetuous words rose to Burt's lips, but he checked them in time.
Trembling for his resolutions, he soon took his departure, and rode
homeward in deeper disquiet than he had ever known. He gave Amy her
friend's messages, and he also, in spite of himself, afforded her a
clearer glimpse of what was passing in his mind than she had received
before. "I might have learned to love him in time, I suppose," she
thought, bitterly, "but it's impossible now. I shall build my future on
no such uncertain foundation, and I shall punish him a little, too, for
it's time he had a lesson.
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