as well as
charm. Her grandfather had the eyes of a turkey-buzzard, eyes which
she contrasted involuntarily with the soft, kindly orbs now bent upon
her. She decided instantly that blue was a prettier colour than
yellow. Rinaldo's skin, too, commended itself. She had never seen so
white a forehead, such ruddy cheeks. David, she reflected, must have
been such a man; but Rinaldo was a nicer name than David, ever so much
nicer.

"Shakespeare never repeats," observed Mr. Roberts, "but I'll tell ye
again, Mandy, that I like ye awful well."

"Pshaw!" she replied.

"Honest, Mandy, I ain't lyin'."

He smoothed his hair, well oiled by the barber an hour before, wiped
his hand upon his brown overalls, and laughed. The overalls were worn
so as to expose four inches of black trouser.

"Ye think more of your sorrel than ye do of me, Nal."

"I do?"

"Yes, indeed, you do. You know you do."

"I know I don't! Say--I've gone an' christened the cuss."

"You have?" said Mandy, in a tone of intense interest. "Tell me its
name."

"It's a her, Mandy, an' me an' Pete fixed on _By-Jo_. That's
French, Mandy," he added triumphantly, "an' it means a gem, a
_jool_, an' that's what she is--a regler ruby!"

"It don't sound like French," said Amanda doubtfully.

"That French feller," replied Nal, with the fine scorn of the Anglo-
Saxon, "him as keeps the 'Last Chance' saloon, pronounces it By-Jew,
but he's as ignorant as a fool, an' By-Jo seems to come kind o'
nateral."

"Ye might ha' called the filly, Amandy, Nal."

The honest face of Rinaldo flushed scarlet. He squirmed--I use the
word advisedly--and nearly fell off the fence.

"If there was a nickel-in-the-slot kickin' machine around San
Lorenzy," he cried, "I'd take a dollar dose right now! Gosh! What a
clam I am! I give ye my word, Mandy, that the notion o' callin' the
filly after you never entered my silly head. Never onst!
_Jee_whillikins! this makes me feel awful bad."

He wiped his broad forehead with a large white silk pocket-
handkerchief, horribly scented with patchouli. His distress was quite
painful to witness.

"Never mind," said Amanda softly. "I was only joking, Nal. It's all
right."

Looking at her now, what son of Adam could call her homely? Her
slender figure, the head well poised upon shapely shoulders, suddenly
straightened itself; her red lips parted, revealing a row of small,
white teeth; her eyes were uplifted to meet the glance of her lover;
her bo