He was up, inflamed, looking at her with an excitement on which she depended for her future.

She knew the caution of his nature, she realized how he would take one step forward and another step back, and maybe get nowhere in the end, and she wanted him--for a home, for her father's sake, for what he could do for them both.

She had no compunctions.

She thought herself too good for him, in a way, for in her day men of place and mark had taken notice of her; and if it had not been for her Gonzales she would no doubt have listened to one of them sometime or another.

She knew she had ability, even though she was indolent, and she thought she could do as much for him as any other girl.