to deserve such language."

But Rosser would not withdraw a word. By the custom of the country and
the time there could be but one outcome to the quarrel.

"I demand the satisfaction due to a gentleman," said the stranger, who
had become more calm. "I have not an acquaintance in this region.
Perhaps you, sir," bowing to Sancher, "will be kind enough to represent
me in this matter."

Sancher accepted the trust--somewhat reluctantly it must be confessed,
for the man's appearance and manner were not at all to his liking. King,
who during the colloquy had hardly removed his eyes from the stranger's
face and had not spoken a word, consented with a nod to act for Rosser,
and the upshot of it was that, the principals having retired, a meeting
was arranged for the next evening. The nature of the arrangements has
been already disclosed. The duel with knives in a dark room was once a
commoner feature of Southwestern life than it is likely to be again. How
thin a veneering of "chivalry" covered the essential brutality of the
code under which such encounters were possible we shall see.

III

In the blaze of a midsummer noonday the old Manton house was hardly true
to its traditions. It was of the earth, earthy. The sunshine caressed it
warmly and affectionately, with evident disregard of its bad reputation.
The grass greening all the expanse in its front seemed to grow, not
rankly, but with a natural and joyous exuberance, and the weeds
blossomed quite like plants. Full of charming lights and shadows and
populous with pleasant-voiced birds, the neglected shade trees no longer
struggled to run away, but bent reverently beneath their burdens of sun
and song. Even in the glassless upper windows was an expression of peace
and contentment, due to the light within. Over the stony fields the
visible heat danced with a lively tremor incompatible with the gravity
which is an attribute of the supernatural.

Such was the aspect under which the place presented itself to Sheriff
Adams and two other men who had come out from Marshall to look at it.
One of these men was Mr. King, the sheriff's deputy; the other, whose
name was Brewer, was a brother of the late Mrs. Manton. Under a
beneficent law of the State relating to property which has been for a
certain period abandoned by an owner whose residence cannot be
ascertained, the sheriff was legal custodian of the Manton farm and
appurtenances thereunto belonging. His present visit was in m