eady," interrupted de Ferrieres,
again springing to his feet, and throwing open his coat with both
hands. "See! here at my heart--fire!"

"Ez I was sayin'," continued Nott, once more pressing the excited man
down in his chair, "I might hev wiped ye out--and mebbee ye wouldn't
hev keered--or YOU might hev wiped ME out, and I mout hev said,
'Thank'ee,' but I reckon this ain't a case for what's comf'able for you
and me. It's what's good for ROSEY. And the thing to kalkilate is,
what's to be done."

His small round eyes for the first time rested on de Ferrieres's face,
and were quickly withdrawn. It was evident that this abstracted look,
which had fascinated his lodger, was merely a resolute avoidance of de
Ferrieres's glance, and it became apparent later that this avoidance
was due to a ludicrous appreciation of de Ferrieres's attractions.

"And after we've done THAT we must kalkilate what Rosey is, and what
Rosey wants. P'raps, ye allow, YOU know what Rosey is? P'raps you've
seen her prance round in velvet bonnets and white satin slippers, and
sich. P'raps you've seen her readin' tracks and v'yages, without
waitin' to spell a word, or catch her breath. But that ain't the Rosey
ez I know. It's a little child ez uster crawl in and out the
tail-board of a Mizzouri wagon on the alcali pizoned plains, where
there wasn't another bit of God's mercy on yearth to be seen for miles
and miles. It's a little gal as uster hunger and thirst ez quiet and
mannerly ez she now eats and drinks in plenty; whose voice was ez
steady with Injins yelling round her nest in the leaves on Sweetwater
ez in her purty cabin up yonder. THAT'S the gal ez I know! That's the
Rosey ez my ole woman puts into my arms one night arter we left Laramie
when the fever was high, and sez, 'Abner,' sez she, 'the chariot is
swingin' low for me to-night, but thar ain't room in it for her or you
to git in or hitch on. Take her and rare her, so we kin all jine on
the other shore,' sez she. And I'd knowed the other shore wasn't no
Kaliforny. And that night, p'raps, the chariot swung lower than ever
before, and my ole woman stepped into it, and left me and Rosey to
creep on in the old wagon alone. It's them kind o' things," added Mr.
Nott thoughtfully, "that seem to pint to my killin' you on sight ez the
best thing to be done. And yet Rosey mightn't like it."

He had slipped one of his feet out of his huge carpet slippers, and, as
he reached down to put