by Todd Downing
Ann Tolman came out of her room and their paths converged at the door. She fell into step beside him. Her voice was resonant with happiness: “Steve finally agreed to take that money from you, Mr. Rennert. We are considering it merely as a loan, remember. Steve insists on that. I do too, although I can appreciate your feeling with regard to it. When we get up to Santa Fe I feel sure that we shall be able to repay you in a short time.”
Rennert glanced once more at the ridges of rock somewhere in whose fastnesses lay the broken remnants of a plane and the broken body of a man.
What he started to say was interrupted by a low uncertain voice from behind them. They turned.
Mark Arnhardt stood awkwardly, fumbling with unnecessary concentration at the bandage on his shoulder.
“I’ve told Stephen good-by, Ann—and apologized. Now I want to tell you how sorry—”
She extended a hand.
“Forget about it, Mark. Let’s wish each other luck.”
Their hands touched only for an instant then Arnhardt turned to Rennert.
“Good-by, Mr. Rennert.” His laugh was determined. “Sorry your stay here wasn’t more pleasant.”
Something about his reluctance to release his pressure on Rennert’s hand made the latter say: “I suppose you’ll be thinking about the bright lights of Monterrey now?” It was the best he could do in the way of advice.
Arnhardt’s voice was far away: “No, I think I’ll stay here a while longer. I’ve gotten used to it, you see.”
It wasn’t until they had almost reached the car that Ann Tolman spoke again. She said: “Poor Mark! I wonder what he’ll do? He looks so lonesome standing there in the door.”
Rennert stowed away the luggage, got into the front seat beside Stephen Tolman and started the car. When they had passed under the gateway he glanced back.
Arnhardt was standing with legs apart and his thumb crooked about his belt. He wasn’t looking at them any longer but straight ahead of him. Rennert recognized the rapt indrawn expression on his face and, recognizing it, speculated as to whether the hacienda Flores would change hands again.
It was an expression that he had seen so often on the faces of men as they stared day after day, with increasing self-sufficiency, into the mountains of Mexico.
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Originally published in 1935.
Cover design by Amanda Shaffer
ISBN: 978-1-5040-6154-4
This edition published in 2020 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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