"Well, Ezekiel, I don't know as his opinion of me was any worse than yours or HERS.

And until I catch HIM to clear my name again, I let the other slanderers go." "Wa'al, I reckon you might lay hands on that devil yet, and not far away, either.

I was up at Demorest's to-day, and I heard Joan and a skittish sort o' Mexican young lady talkin' about some tramp that had frightened her.

And Miss Pico said--" "What! Who did you say ?" demanded Blandford, with a violent start.
"Wa'al, I reckoned I heerd the first name too--Rosita." A quick flush crossed Blandford's face, and left it glowing like a boy's.
"Is SHE there ?" "Wa'al, I reckon she's visitin' Joan," said Ezekiel, narrowly attentive of Blandford's strange excitement; "but wot of it ?" But Blandford had utterly forgotten Ezekiel's presence.

He had remained speechless and flushed.