Page:Honore Willsie--Judith of the godless valley.djvu/159

 suddenly told him that his fate was to bring to Lost Chief the thing of the soul it never had had. How or what this was to be, he did not know.

After a time, he said softly, "Judith, were you ever in love?"

Judith returned his look with a curiously impersonal glance. "I'm not sure," she answered slowly. "Not what Inez calls love, that's sure."

"Isn't there any other woman in Lost Chief that could give you ideas except Inez?" asked Douglas impatiently.

"What woman would you suggest?" Judith waggled one foot airily and tossed her head.

"Charleton's wife. She has brain and she's interesting."

"She's too old. I mean she looks at everything from an old-fashioned viewpoint. I wouldn't care what her age was if she could just see things the way they look to a person sixteen or seventeen years old. Now, Inez is awfully modern."

"Modern!" snorted Douglas. "Where'd you read that? It sure is a new word for Inez' kind!"

Judith flushed angrily but was denied a retort, for Peter suddenly appeared in the door.

"What in the world do you children mean by this kind of talk?" he shouted. "I couldn't help hearing while I was sorting mail. What do you mean by thinking such thoughts, Judith? Have you the nerve to admit that you are patterning your ideas on a woman like Inez?"

"I don't care what she is," replied Judith obstinately. "She's the only woman in Lost Chief who can talk about anything but babies and cattle raising. And more than that, and anyhow, I like her."

Peter took a turn or two up and down the room.