RIDGWAY OF MONTANA

(STORY OF TO-DAY,
IN WHICH THE HERO IS ALSO THE VILLAIN)

by

WILLIAM MACLEOD RAINE

To JEAN
AND THAT KINGDOM

"Where you and I through this world's weather
Work, and give praise and thanks together."

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1. TWO MEN AND A WOMAN

"Mr. Ridgway, ma'am."

The young woman who was giving the last touches to the very effective picture framed in her long looking-glass nodded almost imperceptibly.

She had come to the parting of the ways, and she knew it, with a shrewd suspicion as to which she would choose. She had asked for a week to decide, and her heart-searching had told her nothing new. It was characteristic of Virginia Balfour that she did not attempt to deceive herself. If she married Waring Ridgway it would be for what she considered good and sufficient reasons, but love would not be one of them. He was going to be a great man, for one thing, and probably a very rich one, which counted, though it would not be a determining factor. This she could find only in the man himself, in the masterful force that made him what he was. The sandstings of