Page 48 (1/1)

When Jane Withersteen rose from that storm of wrath and prayer for help she was serene, caled woman She would do her duty as she saw it, live her life as her own truth guided her She ht never be able to marry a man of her choice, but she certainly never would becoht take her cattle and horses, ranges and fields, her corrals and stables, the house of Withersteen and the water that nourished the village of Cottonwoods; but they could not force her to e her decision or break her spirit Once resigned to further loss, and sure of herself, Jane Withersteen attained a peace of ave Tull, and felt a ret over what she knew he considered duty, irrespective of his personal feeling for her First of all, Tull, as he was a man, wanted her for himself; and secondly, he hoped to save her and her riches for his church She did not believe that Tull had been actuated solely by his minister's zeal to save her soul She doubted her interpretation of one of his dark sayings--that if she were lost to hiht as well be lost to heaven Jane Withersteen's coion; and she doubted that her Bishop, whoht had direct co to marry a Mormon As for Tull and his churchmen, when they had harassed her, perhaps eable, and then she would get back most of what she had lost So she reasoned, true at last to her faith in all oodness

The clank of iron hoofs upon the stone courtyard drew her hurriedly from her retirement There, beside his horse, stood Lassiter, his dark apparel and the great black gun-sheaths contrasting singularly with his gentle smile Jane's active mind took up her interest in him and her half-determined desire to use what char Cottonwoods If she could ate his hatred of Morher people, but also be leading back this bloodspiller to some semblance of the human

"Mornin', ma'am," he said, black sombrero in hand

"Lassiter I'm not an old woht smile "If you can't say Miss Withersteen--call me Jane"