word edgeways."

"God save us all, an' maybe I wouldn't then," she admitted. "Is Mackay
th' name iv ye? Come in an' sit down. A match, is ut? Here ye are,
then."

Angus sat down and lit his pipe, while she stared at him.

"Faix, then, I wouldn't have knowed ye at all, at all," she said.

"Well, you never saw me before."

"Be description, I mane. She said--"

"Miss Winton?"

"Who else? Yez do be big enough, but homelier than she said."

"Did she say I was homely?"

"Did I say so?" the lady returned, and her blue eyes twinkled.

"Not exactly. But--"

"Then don't be puttin' words into a woman's mouth, for God knows they's
no need iv ut," she told him. "An' so ye do be th' Mackay lad I've been
hearin' iv, that found her whin she was a little, lost wan, an' shooted
that murtherin' divil iv a grizzly bear!"

Angus acknowledged his identity and diffidently inquired the lady's
name.

"Me name, is ut? They's times whin I have to stop an' think. Mary Kelly
I was born, an' me first was Tim Phelan. A slip iv a gyurl I was then,
an' little more when they waked him. Dhrowned he was, but sure wather
was always fatal to his fam'ly, an' maybe it was all for the best, as
Father Paul said whin he married me to Dan Shaughnessy after a dacint
year. But he died himself, the holy man, before Dan fell off the roof,
an' it was Father Kerrigan said the words over me an' Pether Finucane.
It was Dinney Foley brought me th' news iv th' premachure blast that tuk
Pether, an' I married him. Dinny was me last. So me name's Mrs. Foley."

"And is Mr. Foley here on the ranch?" Angus asked.

"I hope not," Mrs. Foley returned with apprehension. "Givin' him th'
best iv ut, he's wid th' blessid saints. A voylent man was poor Dinney,
as broad as ye, but not so high, an' a lion wid a muckstick. But phwat's
a muckstick to knives? Sure thim dirty dagoes is born wid thim in their
hands. Though he stretched thim right an' left wid th' shovel, he could
not gyard his back. So whin I buried him I quit. No, I've had no luck at
all keepin' men." And Mrs. Foley sighed, pursed up her lips and shook
her head at Angus.

"You do seem to have been out of luck," Angus sympathized gravely. "Have
you known Miss Winton long."

"As long as she is. I nursed her wid me own b'y that died."

"And have you known this girl friend of hers, long, too?"

"Phwat gyurl friend?"

"The one who is here with her--her companion."

"I'm her," Mrs. Foley returned. "Where