kin laugh; but it's so. One day I took her out buggy-riding,--in style,
too,--and out on the road I offered to do the square thing, just as if
she'd been a lady,--offered to marry her then and there. And what did
she do?" said Jack with a hysterical laugh. "Why, blank it all! OFFERED
ME TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS A WEEK ALLOWANCE--PAY TO BE STOPPED WHEN I WASN'T
AT HOME!" The roar of laughter that greeted this frank confession was
broken by a quiet voice asking, "And what did YOU say?"--"Say?" screamed
Jack, "I just told her to go to ---- with her money."--"They say,"
continued the quiet voice, "that you asked her for the loan of two
hundred and fifty dollars to get you to Sacramento--and that you got
it."--"Who says so roared Jack. Show me the blank liar." There was a
dead silence. Then the possessor of the quiet voice, Mr. Jack Hamlin,
languidly reached under the table, took the chalk, and, rubbing the end
of his billiard-cue, began with gentle gravity: "It was an old friend of
mine in Sacramento, a man with a wooden leg, a game eye, three fingers
on his right hand, and a consumptive cough. Being unable, naturally,
to back himself, he leaves things to me. So, for the sake of argument,"
continued Hamlin, suddenly laying down his cue, and fixing his wicked
black eyes on the speaker, "say it's ME!"

I am afraid that this story, whether truthful or not, did not tend
to increase Peg's popularity in a community where recklessness and
generosity condoned for the absence of all the other virtues; and it is
possible, also, that Red Dog was no more free from prejudice than other
more civilized but equally disappointed matchmakers. Likewise, during
the following year, she made several more foolish ventures, and lost
heavily. In fact, a feverish desire to increase her store at almost any
risk seemed to possess her. At last it was announced that she intended
to reopen the infelix Rockville Hotel, and keep it herself.