Perhaps some sheriff wants me.

Perhaps I am an escaped convict.

Perhaps--oh, a thousand things." She laughed aloud in spite of her serious mood.

"What nonsense!" "But, why nonsense?
What do you and your friends know of me ?" "We know that you are not that kind of a man," she retorted warmly, "because"-- she hesitated--"well, because you are _not_ that sort of a man." "Are you sure you don't mean because I am not man enough to make myself wanted very badly, even by the sheriff ?" he asked, and Kitty could not mistake the bitterness in his voice.
"Why, Mr.Patches!" she cried.

"How could you think I meant such a thing?
Forgive me! I was only wondering foolishly what you, a man of education and culture, could find in this rough life that would appeal to you in any way.