"Very well. Who were those men, and why were they trying to kill
you?"

"They turned their wolf loose on me because I shot up one of them
yesterday."

"Dear me! Is it your business to go around shooting people?
That's three I happen to know that you have shot. How many more?"

"No more, ma'am--not recently."

"Well, three is quite enough--recently," she mimicked. "You seem
to me a good deal of a desperado."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Don't say 'Yes, ma'am,' like that, as if it didn't matter in the
least whether you are or not," she ordered.

"No, ma'am."

"Oh!" She broke off with a gesture of impatience at his burlesque
of obedience. "You know what I mean--that you ought to deny it;
ought to be furious at me for suggesting it."

"Ought I?"

"Of course you ought."