chord. "Life is lonesome, isn't it Doug! Seems as though I never dare to
be myself any more, since Oscar's death. That was the first time I ever
realized how lonely you can be."

Douglas nodded, his eyes full of an understanding that was pitiful. Youth
should not be allowed to contemplate this sort of loneliness. It is soul
searing.

"But remember, Judith," he said, "that you've always got me."

She gave him an enigmatic look and returned to her work.




CHAPTER IV

THE HOUSE IN THE YELLOW CANYON

"Beauty: to see it, to hear it, to feel it: that's all that makes life
worth while."

--_Inez Rodman_.


Douglas was both elated and dejected by his conversation with Judith. He
was elated to feel that at last Judith knew his feeling toward her. He
was dejected because he felt that she had no understanding of the depth
and sincerity of this feeling. And with that marvelously naive egotism of
the male, he gave many hours of heavy thought to Judith's weaknesses and