aded the
experience of a dinner companion who would be guilty of all manner of
solecisms. Clearly her fears had been groundless. Save in the matter of
tan, which was rather becoming, Wade's Western friend differed in no
outward detail from the other men in the room.

When they were seated came the embarrassing moment--when it became
necessary to find a conversational topic of common acquaintance. But
this passed easily. From the table decorations Clyde turned deftly to
flowers in general, to trees, to outdoor things. Casey Dunne laughed
gently.

"You are trying to talk of things I am expected to know about, aren't
you, Miss Burnaby?"

She evaded the charge, laughing also. "What _shall_ we talk about, Mr.
Dunne? You shall choose for both of us."

"No, I won't do that. Talk of whatever interests you. I'll follow your
lead if I can."

She took him at his word, finding that his acquaintance with current
literature and topics of the day was rather more intimate than her own.
He seemed to have ideas and opinions formed by his own thought, not
mere repetitions of reviews or newspaper comment.

As she glanced at his profile from time to time she became aware of an
odd familiarity. He resembled some one she had seen before, but the
identity eluded her. Their conversation gradually took a more personal
form. Dunne told a story, and told it well. He spoke casually of the
West, but instituted no comparisons.

"You are really an exception," Clyde told him. "The average Westerner
is such a superior mortal. He looks down on the East, and when he comes
among Easterners he condescends."

"It's a relief to have some one admit that Chicago is in the East," he
laughed. "No, I don't brag about the West. It's a good country, and it
will be better when we have approximated more to Eastern conditions. We
are undeveloped as yet. In twenty years----"

"Ah, there it is!" she interrupted. "Scratch a Russian, and find a
Tartar. And I took you for an exception!"

He laughed. "I plead guilty. The microbe is in the air. We all have it.
Can you blame us? Do you know the West?"

"Only what I have seen from the train. I have told you of every one
here. In return tell me about yourself. Mrs. Wade says that you are a
rancher."

"Yes, I have a good little ranch in the dry belt, within sight of the
mountains."

"The dry belt?" she queried.

"Yes. We call that part of the country which has little or no rain the
'dry belt.' Formerly, for th