"You go far, senor?"

"Not now. I have come far, but my journey is near to a very happy
ending."

"So?"

"Yes. I have come to marry Miss Elena Ashley, at Auburn, to whom I have
been long betrothed."

She tapped her white teeth with her fan.

"And yet you linger at Mountaineer House?"

"Horses are expensive, and I am not rich. I walked. I was tired. I saw
you in your garden, and you are very beautiful."

Rosa's capricious vanity was touched. The whim seized her to save this
exuberant young bridegroom from the fate before him.

"Do you see that peddler - old Rosenthal - close to the bar? He brought
in a large and rich pack tonight. It lies in the next room. Do you go
there at once. I will come soon, and together we will select a gift for
your bride. Go quickly!"

She passed again behind the bar. Jack Phillips was at one end, lame Jim
Driscoll at the other, Tom Bell in the middle. Rosa paused near a
branching candelabra which had once graced the altar of a Spanish
church.