Dan Morgan told himself he would forget Ann Turner. He was well rid of her. He certainly didn't want a wife who was as fickle as Ann. If he had married her, he'd have been asking for trouble. But all of this was rationalization. Sometimes he woke up in the middle of the night thinking of Ann, and then could not get back to sleep. His plans and dreams had revolved around her so much and for so long that now he felt as if he had nothing. The easiest thing would be to sell out to Al Budd and leave the country , but there was a stubborn streak in him that would n't allow it. The best antidote for the bitterness and disappointment that poisoned him was hard work. He found that if he was tired enough at night , he went to sleep simply because he was too exhausted to stay awake. Each day he found himself thinking less often of Ann; each day the hurt was a little duller , a little less poignant. He had plenty of work to do. Because the summer was unusually dry and hot, the spring produced a smaller stream than in ordinary years. The grass in the meadows came fast , now that the warm weather was here.