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train when you thought I was a poor old schoolmarm you swore you were not Frank Owens. Now you swear you are! If you were a man who knew what truth is, you’d have a chance. But now…No! You are a monster of iniquity. I don’t believe you.
    She left the note in plain sight where she always found his letters in her desk. The next morning the note was gone. And so was Andy. She did not see him for three days.
    It came about that a dance to be held at Beacon during the late summer was something Jane could not very well avoid. She had not attended either of the cowboy dances that had been given since her arrival. This next one, however, appeared to be an annual affair, at which all the ranching fraternity for miles around would be in attendance. Jane was wild to go. But it developed that she could not escape the escort of any one of her cowboy admirers without alienating the others. And she began to see the visions of this wonderful dance fade away when Springer accosted her.
    “Who’s the lucky cowboy to take you to our dance?” he asked.
    “He’s as mysterious and doubtful as Mister Frank Owens,” replied Jane.
    “Oh, you still remember him,” said the rancher, his keen dark eyes quizzically on her.
    “Indeed, I do,” sighed Jane.
    “Too bad! He was a villain…But you don’t mean you haven’t been asked to go?”
    “They’ve all asked me…that’s the trouble.”
    “I see. But you mustn’t miss it. It’d be pleasant for you to meet some of the ranchers and their wives. Suppose you go with me?”
    “Oh, Mister Springer, I…I’d be delighted,” replied Jane.
    “Thank you. Then it’s settled. I must be in town all that day on cattle business…next Friday. I’ll ask the Hartwells to stop here for you, an’ drive you in.”
    He seemed gravely, kindly interested as always, yet there was something in his eyes that interfered with the regular beating of Jane’s heart. She could not forget what the cowboys had told her, even if she dared not believe it.
    Jane spent much of the remaining leisure hours on a gown to wear at this dance that promised so much. And because of the labor, she saw little of the cowboys. Tex was highly offended with her and would not deign to notice her anyhow. She wondered what would happen at the dance. She was a little fearful, too, because she had already learned of what fire and brimstone these cowboys were made. So dreaming and conjecturing, now amused and again gravely pensive, Jane awaited the eventful night.
    The Hartwells turned out to be nice people whose little girl was one of Jane’s pupils. That, and their evident delight in Jane’s appearance, gave the adventure a last thrilling anticipation. Jane had been afraid to trust her own judgment as to how shelooked. On the drive townward, through the crisp fall gloaming, while listening to the chatter of the children, and the talk of the elder Hartwells, she could not help wondering what Springer would think of her in the beautiful new gown.
    They arrived late, according to her escorts. The drive to town was sixteen miles, but it had seemed short to Jane. “Reckon it’s just as well for you an’ the children,” said Mrs. Hartwell to Jane. “These dances last from seven to seven.”
    “No!” exclaimed Jane.
    “They sure do.”
    “Well, I’m a tenderfoot from Missouri. But that’s not going to keep me from having a wonderful time.”
    “You will, dear, unless the cowboys fight over you, which is likely. But at least there won’t be any shootin’. My husband an’ Springer are both on the committee an’ they won’t admit any gun-totin’ cowpunchers.”
    Here Jane had concrete evidence of something she had begun to suspect. These careless lovemaking cowboys might be dangerous. It thrilled while it repelled her.
    Jane’s first sight of that dance hall astonished her. It was a big barn-like room, roughly raftered and sided, decorated enough with colored bunting to take away the bareness. The lamps were not