I am looking for a book written before 1978.  The storyline is that a man from the Northeast travels to the Southwest because he has a lung ailment.  He is of modest means when he arrives at his new home but over time becomes wealthy and successful.  He becomes the owner of a Hacienda, not just of a large house but basically the owner of a large cattle ranching operation.  He marries a beautiful Hispanic woman who is much younger than he is.  She later betrays him with a young American cowboy.  The workers on the Hacienda learn what has happened and they let the hero know that they will kill the Cowboy if that is what he wants.  The hero of the story decides that he loves both his friend and his young wife (whom he feels guilty for marrying) and decides to spare the lovers.  However, the shame of the situation means that he must abandon his home and much of the great wealth he has accumulated. 

When the man first arrived in town he had almost nothing.  When he leaves, even though he is abandoning great wealth, he is riding a very expensive horse on a saddle with silver buckles, silver spurs, etc.  He is armed and has money in his saddlebags.  The idea is that despite all he is losing he is much better off than when he arrived.  The only relatively precise quote that I can remember from the book is: “Ten years is only an long time at the beginning or very end of a man’s life.”

This book may have been a Readers Digest Condensed book.  It may also have been written by a Mexican author and translated or an American author with ties to the Southwest and the Hispanic community.  The cultural norms play a large role in the book.

I read this book between 1972 and 1978.