Meanwhile Lee, under relentless pressure of work, saw less and less of Ruth.

She had come a number of times at the beginning of the drive, sometimes with Gretzinger, sometimes with Imogene, to watch the feverish spectacle on the mesa; as had Louise Graham, her father, and at rare intervals Mr.McDonnell.Bryant, on his part, had gone evenings to Sarita Creek when he could spare an hour, and, for that matter, when he could not.

But the meetings with her were infrequent, and always left him with a sense of inadequacy, of dissatisfaction, because partly Ruth and he seemed to have no common interests and partly that she now let her affection go for granted.

Her talk was not of the subjects usually discussed by an engaged couple--of their coming marriage (though no date had been fixed) and a home and prospective joys together; it dealt wholly with amusements, dances, friends at Kennard.

And though her own eyes glistened at the recital, Lee's lost their light and his speech was quenched.