fellow, and as square a man as I know; but you ought to know he's got
the reputation of being a hard man to know. Lots of girls have tried
to flirt and make a fool of him, and wound up with their feelings hurt
worse than his were."

"Is that a dare?" Beatrice threw up her chin with a motion Dick knew of
old.

"Not on your life! You better leave him alone; one or the other of you
would get the worst of it, and I'd hate to see either of you feeling
bad. As I said before, he's a bad man to fool with."

"I don't consider him particularly dangerous--or interesting. He's not
half as nice as Sir Redmond." Beatrice spoke as though she meant what
she said, and Dick had no chance to argue the point, for Keith pulled up
beside them at that moment.

Beatrice seemed inclined to silence, and paid more attention to the
landscape than she did to the conversation, which was mostly about range
conditions, and the scanty water supply, and the drought.

She was politely interested in Keith's ranch, and if she clung
persistently to her society manner, why, her society manner was very
pleasing, if somewhat unsatisfying to a fellow fairly drunk with her
winsomeness. Keith showed her where she might look straight up the
coulee to her brother's ranch, two miles away, and when she wished
she might see what they were doing up there, he went in and got his
field-glass. She thanked him prettily, and impersonally, and focused the
glass upon Dick's house--which gave Keith another chance to look at her
without being caught in the act.

"How plain everything is! I can see mama, out on the porch, and Miss
Hayes." She could also see Sir Redmond, who had just ridden up, and was
talking to the ladies, but she did not think it necessary to mention
him, for some reason; she kept her eyes to the glass, however, and
appeared much absorbed. Dick rolled himself a cigarette and watched the
two, and there was a twinkle in his eyes.

"I wonder--Dick, I do think--I'm afraid--" Beatrice hadn't her society
manner now; she was her unaffected, girlish self; and she was growing
excited.

"What's the matter?" Dick got up, and came and stood at her elbow.

"They're acting queerly. The maids are running about, and the cook is
out, waving a large spoon, and mama has her arm around Miss Hayes, and
Sir Redmond."

"Let's see." Dick took the glass and raised it to his eyes for a minute.
"That's right," he said. "They're making medicine over something. See
what you