And he dwelt on the last word until the girl shivered.

"It's what it means," said Ronicky Doone, "life-long misery for you.
And it won't happen--it can't happen."

"Are you mad--are you quite mad?" asked the girl. "What on earth have
I and my affairs got to do with you? Who are you?"

"I dunno," said Ronicky Doone. "I suppose you might say I'm a champion
of lost causes, lady. Why have I got something to do with you? I'll
tell you why: Because, when a girl gets past being just pretty and
starts in being plumb beautiful, she lays off being the business of
any one gent--her father or her brother--she starts being the business
of the whole world. You see? They come like that about one in ten
million, and I figure you're that one, lady."

The far away smile went out. She was looking at him now with a sort of
sad wonder. "Do you know what I am?" she said gravely.

"I dunno," said Ronicky, "and I don't care. What you do don't count.
It's the inside that matters, and the inside of you is all right.
Lady, so long as I can sling a gun, and so long as my name is Ronicky
Doone, you ain't going to marry the gent with the smile."

If he expected an outbreak of protest from her he was mistaken. For
what she said was: "Ronicky Doone! Is that the name? Ronicky Doone!"
Then she smiled up at him. "I'm within one ace of being foolish and
saying--But I won't."

She made a gesture of brushing a mist away from her and then stepped
back a little. "I'm going down to see the man with the smile, and I'm
going to tell him that Harry Morgan is not in his room, that he didn't
answer my knock, and then that I looked around through the house and
didn't find him. After that I'm coming back here, Ronicky Doone, and
I'm going to try to get an opportunity for you to talk to Caroline
Smith."

"I knew you'd change your mind," said Ronicky Doone.

"I'll even tell you why," she said. "It isn't for your friend who's
asleep, but it's to give you a chance to finish this business and come
to the end of this trail and go back to your own country. Because,
if you stay around here long, there'll be trouble, a lot of trouble,
Ronicky Doone. Now stay here and wait for me. If anyone taps at the
door, you'd better slip into that closet in the corner. Will you
wait?"

"Yes."

"And you'll trust me?"

"To the end of the trail, lady."

She smiled at him again and was gone.

Now the house was perfectly hushed. He went to the window and looked
down to the