o know. But he continued, quite frankly for him:

"Has it ever struck you, William Jane, that after all Foxy is not
sacrificing such a hell of a lot?" He bit his lip because of the word
he had let slip, but since Billy Louise took no notice, he went on:
"He's got a pretty good thing, down there, if you stop to think. The
old lady won't live always, and she's managed to build up a pretty fine
ranch. It stands Foxy in hand to be good to her, don't you think?
He'll have a pretty fine stake out of it. Far as I know, he's all
right. I merely fail to see where he's got a right to wear any halo on
his manly brow. He's got a good hand in the game, and he's playing
it--a heap better than lots of men would. Dot's all, Wilhemina." He
turned to her as if he would dismiss the subject. "Don't run off with
the notion that I'm out after the heart's blood of our young hee-ro. I
like him all right--far as he goes. I like him a heap better," he
owned frankly, "since I glommed him devouring that letter from Miss
Gertrude M. Shannon.

"Don't you want to ride a ways with me?" His eyes made love while he
waited for her to speak. "Don't?" (When she shook her head.) "You're
a pretty mean young person sometimes, aren't you? Wha's molla? Did I
give you more mood than I wiped off the slate?"

"I don't know. You say a sentence or two, and it's like slashing a
knife into a curtain. You show all kinds of things that were nicely
covered before." Billy Louise spoke gloomily. "I'll see Marthy as a
poor old lady waiting to be saddled with a boss, from now on. And
Charlie Fox just simply working for his own interests and--"

"Now, William!"

"Oh, I can see it myself, now."

"Well, what if he is? We're all of us working for our own interests,
aren't we?" He saw the gloom still deep in her eyes and flung out both
hands impatiently. "All right, all right! I'll plead the cause of our
young hee-ro, then. What would old Marthy do without him? He's made
her more comfortable than she ever was in her life, probably. I
noticed a big difference in the cabin, yesterday. And he's doing the
work, and taking the responsibility, and making the ranch more
valuable--even put a wire on the gate, that rings a bell at the house,
so she'll know when company's coming, and can get the kitchen swept.
He's done a lot--"

"For himself!" In her disillusionment Billy Louise went too far the
other way. "And the cabin is more comfortable for tha