His better sense kept telling him to go back to Slow Down Ranch.
But there she was inside Nolan Doyle's house, and he had come
deliberately to see her.
He stood outside in the garden near the great spreading elm-tree, torn by
a sense of duty and a sense of desire; but the desire was to let her see
by his presence that he would be a tower of strength to her, no matter
what happened. It was not the desire which had possessed him whom Patsy
Kernaghan had called the keeper of the "zoolyogical" garden.
He had just made up his mind that courage was the right thing: that he
must see her in the presence of others for one minute, whatever the
issue, when she came out with Patsy Kernaghan, the Young Doctor, and
Norah and Nolan Doyle. None saw him, and, as they seated themselves, he
stepped noiselessly under the spreading branches of the elm-tree. He
would not speak to them yet; he would wait. In the shade made by the
drooping branches he could not be seen, yet he could hear and see all.
There was silence for a moment, and then Patsy began the tale of St.
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