The girl stared at him in surprise. "Serious! Of course I'm serious!
When will I ever get another chance to attend a cowboy dance--and with
a real cowboy, too?"

"The whole thing is preposterous! Perfectly absurd! If you are bound
to attend that affair I will take you there, and we can look on and----"

"I don't want to look on. I want to dance--to be in it all. It will
be an experience I'll never forget."

The man nodded: "And one you may never cease to regret. What do you
know of that man? Of his character; of his antecedents? He may be the
veriest desperado for all you know."

The girl clapped her hands in mock delight: "Oh, wouldn't that be
grand! I hadn't thought of that. To attend a dance with just a plain
cowboy doesn't fall to every girl's lot, but one who is a cowboy and a
desperado, too!" She rolled her eyes to express the seventh heavendom
of delight.

Endicott ignored the mockery. "I am sure neither your mother nor your
father----"

"No, neither of them would approve, of course. But really, Winthrop,
I'm way past the short petticoat stage--though the way they're making
them now nobody would guess it. I know it's improper and
unconventional and that it isn't done east of the Mississippi nor west
of the Rocky Mountains. But when in Rome do as the roamers do, as
someone has said. And as for Mr. Purdy," she paused and looked
Endicott squarely in the eyes. "Do you know why he didn't shoot that