t me
out I have felt that it was up to me to finish what was begun that
night. For another thing, I was trying to prove a theory, I imagine! I
didn't really believe that Brayley was the better man. And lastly, and
perhaps most important of all, I told you the other day that I was
going to lick him. It was a sort of promise, you know!"

She sat with her elbow upon her knee, her chin on her hand, her eyes
lost in the shadow of her hair. He knew that she was regarding him
intently. He guessed from the line of her cheek, from the slightly
upturned curve at the corner of her mouth, that she was half inclined
to be serious, and almost ready to smile at him.

"You are inclined to look upon Brayley as an enemy?" was all that she
said, still watching him closely.

"No!" he cried, warmly. "I sneered at him the other day, I know. Like
the little poppinjay I was I thought myself in the position to poke
fun at him. To-day I got my first true idea of the man's nature.
To-day I found out--can you guess what I found out? That Brayley in
many things is just like--whom, do you suppose?"

"Tell me."

"Like you! The discovery was a shock. It nearly bowled me over. But
it's the truth!"

"What do you mean?" she asked, plainly puzzled. "How in the world is
Brayley like me?"

"Aside from externals, from refinement, from polish, from all that
sort of thing"--he spoke swiftly--"his nature is much like yours.
There is the same frankness, the same sincerity, the same heartiness.
There is the same sort of generosity, the same bigness of--of soul."
He broke off abruptly, surprised to find himself talking this way to
her. "You must think I'm a fool," he blurted out, after a second. "I
talk like one. You have a right to feel offended--to liken Brayley to
you--"

"Since I believe you mean what you say--since I think I understand
what you mean--I am not offended! I am proud! Yes, proud if I can be
like Brayley in some things, some things which count! If you do
nothing beyond making a friend of that man your exile in this Western
country of ours will have been worth while. But you will do something
more. I did not ask you to come to me just to hear what you had to say
about your trouble with Brayley. He told me before you came--told me
that you had licked him, as you both put it, and that it served him
right! That is your business and Brayley's, and I should keep out of
it. But there was something else--I wonder if you think me meddlesome,
Mr