elong. If the good Lord ain't give her the sense to
see that you're jist the image of the man that would be jist exactly
right for her, somebody had better be tellin' her so. Anyway, if Miss
Linda is takin' ye up to the house that Mr. Pater Morrison is buildin'
and the Pater man is there, I would advise ye to cast your most
discernin' eye on that gintleman. Ye watch him jist one minute when he
looks at the young missus and he thinks nobody ain't observing him, and
ye'll see what ye'll see. If ye want Marian, ye jist go on and take her.
I'm not carin' whether ye use a club or white vi'lets, but don't ye be
lettin' Marian Thorne get no idea into her head that she is goin' to
take Mr. Pater Morrison, because concernin' Pater I know what I know,
and I ain't goin' to stand by and see things goin' wrong for want of
spakin' up. Now if you're a wise man, ye don't nade nothing further said
on the subject."

Eugene Snow thought intently for a few moments. His vision centered on
Katherine O'Donovan's face.

"You're absolutely sure of this?" he said at last.

"Jist as sure as the sun's sure, and the mountains, and the seasons come
and go," said Katy with finality. "Watch him and you'll see it stickin'
out all over him. I have picked him for me boss, and it's jist adorin'
that man crature I am."

"What about Miss Linda?" inquired Snow. "Is she adoring him?"

"She ain't nothing but a ganglin' school kid, adorin' the spade with
which she can shoot around that Bear Cat of hers, and race the canyons,
and the rely lovely things she can strike on paper with her pencil and
light up with her joyous colors. Her day and her hour ain't come, and
the Pater man's that fine he won't lay a finger on her to wake her up
when she has a year yet of her schoolin' before her. But in the manetime
it's my job to stand guard as I'm standin' right now. I'm tellin' ye
frank and fair. Ye go on and take Marian Thorne because ye ought to have
her. If she's got any idea in her head that she's goin' to have Pater
Morrison, she'll have to get it out."

Eugene Snow held out his hand and started to the front door in answer to
the growl of the Bear Cat. As he came down the steps and advanced to the
car, Linda, with the quick eye that had been one of her special gifts as
a birthright, noted a change in him. He seemed to have been keyed up
and toned up. There was a different expression on his face. There was
buoyancy in his step. There was a visible determination