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Show Page 55 After the death of Matt Rash, Bernard was considering leaving the Two Bar and going to Oregon. A message from Ann, asking him to meet her, changed his mind-and his life. This second meeting was quite different from the first. "Ann Bassett was not the stern little guntoter I had seen patrolling the range on Douglas Mesa," wrote Bernard, "but a pretty girl wearing a pretty blue dress that went well with her shining hair." Ann had changed her personality along with her dress, a characteristic of Ann's she used successfully whenever the occasion demanded. Although she spoke frankly with Bernard, she also turned on the charm, successfully dazzling the crusty cowman. Bernard never had a chance. Ann's purpose in inviting Bernard to meet with her was to offer him a partnership arrangement in her cattle business. By the time Ann made the proposal, however, cows were the last thing on Bernard's mind. He was smitten with Ann, or in his words, "turned to ashes." It was not Brown's Park and a few cattle Bernard was after; it was a wife. He screwed up his courage and asked Ann to marry him. The loneliness of the cowman's life, Ann's forceful personality, and her striking good looks make it understandable that Bernard became so rapidly enamoured of Ann. Ann's reasons for accepting Bernard's proposal of marriage were not so romantic He was twenty years older than she and they did not even know |