Free Zane Grey by The Last Trail Page B

the moonlight, the tall
buckskin-garbed figure of Jonathan Zane.
    "Well, sir," she called, sharply, yet with a tremor in her voice.
    The borderman came forward and stood in front of her. Somehow he
appeared changed. The long, black rifle, the dull, glinting weapons
made her shudder. Wilder and more untamable he looked than ever. The
very silence of the forest clung to him; the fragrance of the grassy
plains came faintly from his buckskin garments.
    "Evenin', lass," he said in his slow, cool manner.
    "How did you get here?" asked Helen presently, because he made no
effort to explain his presence at such a late hour.
    "I was able to walk."
    Helen observed, with a vaulting spirit, one ever ready to rise in
arms, that Master Zane was disposed to add humor to his penetrating
mysteriousness. She flushed hot and then paled. This borderman
certainly possessed the power to vex her, and, reluctantly she
admitted, to chill her soul and rouse her fear. She strove to keep
back sharp words, because she had learned that this singular
individual always gave good reason for his odd actions.
    "I think in kindness to me," she said, choosing her words carefully,
"you might tell me why you appear so suddenly, as if you had sprung
out of the ground."
    "Are you alone?"
    "Yes. Father is in bed; so is Mabel, and Will has not yet come home.
Why?"
    "Has no one else been here?"
    "Mr. Brandt came, as did some others; but wishing to be alone, I did
not see them," replied Helen in perplexity.
    "Have you seen Brandt since?"
    "Since when?"
    "The night I watched by the lilac bush."
    "Yes, several times," replied Helen. Something in his tone made her
ashamed. "I couldn't very well escape when he called. Are you
surprised because after he insulted me I'd see him?"
    "Yes."
    Helen felt more ashamed.
    "You don't love him?" he continued.
    Helen was so surprised she could only look into the dark face above
her. Then she dropped her gaze, abashed by his searching eyes. But,
thinking of his question, she subdued the vague stirrings of pleasure
in her breast, and answered coldly:
    "No, I do not; but for the service you rendered me I should never have
answered such a question."
    "I'm glad, an' hope you care as little for the other five men who were
here that night."
    "I declare, Master Zane, you seem exceedingly interested in the
affairs of a young woman whom you won't visit, except as you have come
to-night."
    He looked at her with his piercing eyes.
    "You spied upon my guests," she said, in no wise abashed now that her
temper was high. "Did you care so very much?"
    "Care?" he asked slowly.
    "Yes; you were interested to know how many of my admirers were here,
what they did, and what they said. You even hint disparagingly
of them."
    "True, I wanted to know," he replied; "but I don't hint about any
man."
    "You are so interested you wouldn't call on me when I invited you,"
said Helen, with poorly veiled sarcasm. It was this that made her
bitter; she could never forget that she had asked this man to come to
see her, and he had refused.
    "I reckon you've mistook me," he said calmly.
    "Why did you come? Why do you shadow my friends? This is twice you
have done it. Goodness knows how many times you've been here!
Tell me."
    The borderman remained silent.
    "Answer me," commanded Helen, her eyes blazing. She actually stamped
her foot. "Borderman or not, you have no right to pry into my affairs.
If you are a gentleman, tell me why you came here?"
    The eyes Jonathan turned on Helen stilled all the angry throbbing of
her blood.
    "I come here to learn which of your lovers is the dastard who plotted
the abduction of Mabel Lane, an' the thief who stole our hosses. When
I find the villain I reckon Wetzel an' I'll swing him to some tree."
    The borderman's voice rang sharp and cold, and when he ceased speaking
she sank back upon the step, shocked, speechless, to gaze up at him
with staring eyes.
    "Don't look so, lass; don't be frightened," he said, his voice gentle
and kind as it had been