"Kid," he exclaimed, harshly, "what does this mean? What are you doing
alone here?"
She stopped instantly and glanced up, her face flushing in the light
streaming forth from the open door of the Occidental.
"I reckon I 'm alone here because I want to be," she returned,
defiantly. "I ain't no slave. How do you get up there?"
He extended his hand, and drew her up beside him into the shaded
corner. "Well," he said, "tell me the truth."
"I 've quit, that's all, Bob. I just couldn't stand for reform any
longer, and so I 've come back here to you."
The man drew a deep breath. "Did n't you like Mrs. Herndon?"
"Oh, she 's all right enough, so far as that goes. 'T ain't that; only
I just didn't like some things she said and did."
"Kid," and Hampton straightened up, his voice growing stern. "I 've
got to know the straight of this. You say you like Mrs. Herndon well
enough, but not some other things. What were they?"
The girl hesitated, drawing back a little from him until the light from
the saloon fell directly across her face. "Well," she declared,
slowly, "you see it had to be either her or--or you, Bob, and I 'd
rather it would be you."
"You mean she said you would have to cut me out entirely if you stayed
there with her?"
She nodded, her eyes filled with entreaty. "Yes, that was about it. I
wasn't ever to have anything more to do with you, not even to speak to
you if we met--and after you 'd saved my life, too."
"Never mind about that little affair, Kid," and Hampton rested his hand
gently on her shoulder. "That was all in the day's work, and hardly
counts for much anyhow. Was that all she said?"
"She called you a low-down gambler, a gun-fighter, a--a miserable
bar-room thug, a--a murderer. She--she said that if I ever dared to
speak to you again, Bob Hampton; that I could leave her house. I just
could n't stand for that, so I came away."
Hampton never stirred, his teeth set deep into his cigar, his hands
clinched about the railing. "The fool!" he muttered half aloud, then
caught his breath quickly. "Now see here, Kid," and he turned her
about so that he might look down into her eyes, "I 'm mighty glad you
like me well enough to put up a kick, but if all this is true about me,
why should n't she say it? Do you believe that sort of a fellow would
prove a very good kind to look after a young lady?"