ed and the dog was flung back. There was a momentary struggle.
Some gentlemen came hurrying out of the office; and as they beat the
dog back to its retreat, Kate summoned words from her parched throat to
thank her benefactor.

It was the melancholy man with the new clothes. This morning he
was dressed in a suit of the lightest gray, with a white marseilles
waistcoat, over which his glittering chain shone ostentatiously. White
tennis-shoes, a white rose in his buttonhole, and a white straw hat
in his hand completed a toilet over which much time had evidently been
spent. Kate noted these details as she held out her hand.

"I may have been alarmed without cause," she said; "but I was horribly
frightened. Thank you so much for coming to my rescue. And I think, if
you would add to your kindness by getting me a glass of water--"

When he came back, his hand was trembling a little; and as Kate looked
up to learn the cause, she saw that his face was flushed. He was
embarrassed. She decided that he was not accustomed to the society of
ladies. "Brutes like that dog ain't no place in th' world--that's my
opinion. There are some bad things we can't help havin' aroun'; but a
bull-dog ain't one of 'em."

"I quite agree with you," Kate acquiesced, as she drank the water. "But
as this is the first unpleasant experience of any kind that I have had
since I came here, I don't feel that I have any right to complain."

"You're here fur yur health?"

"Yes. And I am getting it. You're not an invalid, I imagine?"

"No--no-op. I'm here be--well, I've thought fur a long time I'd like t'
stay at this here hotel."

"Indeed!"

"Yes. I've been up th' gulch these fifteen years. Bin livin' on a shelf
of black rock. Th' sun got 'round 'bout ten. Couldn't make a thing
grow." The man was looking off toward the hills, with an expression of
deep sadness in his eyes. "Didn't never live in a place where nothin'
'd grow, did you? I took geraniums up thar time an' time agin. Red
ones. Made me think of mother; she's in Germany. Watered 'em mornin' an'
night. Th' damned things died."

The oath slipped out with an artless unconsciousness, and there was
a little moisture in his eyes. Kate felt she ought to bring the
conversation to a close. She wondered what Jack would say if he saw her
talking with a perfect stranger who used oaths! She would have gone into
the house but for something that caught her eye. It was the hand of the
man; that hand was a bl