would wish then that she had thought twice about quitting him
just on her mother's say-so. He'd like to go buzzing into San
Jose behind the wheel of a car like the one Foster had fooled him
into stealing. And meet Marie, and her mother too, and let them
get an eyeful. He guessed the old lady would have to swallow what
she had said about him being lazy--just because he couldn't
run an auto-stage in the winter to Big Basin! What was the matter
with the old woman, anyway? Didn't he keep Maria in comfort.
Well, he'd like to see her face when he drove along the street in
a big new Sussex. She'd wish she had let him and Marie alone.
They would have made out all right if they had been let alone. He
ought to have taken Marie to some other town, where her mother
couldn't nag at her every day about him. Marie wasn't such a bad
kid, if she were left alone. They might have been happy--

He tried then to shake himself free of thoughts of her. That
was the trouble with him, he brooded morosely. He couldn't let
his thoughts ride free, any more. They kept heading straight for
Marie. He could not see why she should cling so to his memory; he
had not wronged her--unless it was by letting her go without
making a bigger fight for their home. Still, she had gone of her
own free will. He was the one that had been wronged--why,
hadn't they lied about him in court and to the gossipy neighbors?
Hadn't they broke him? No. If the mine panned out big as Cash
seemed to think was likely, the best thing he could do was steer
clear of San Jose. And whether it panned out or not, the best
thing he could do was forget that such girl as Marie had ever
existed..

Which was all very well, as far as it went. The trouble was