then I followed the draw.

I'm a firm believer in Fate. Fate is a funny word: leave the first
letter off, an' it 's the cause; leave the last letter off, an' it's
the result. Barbie found this out one night when we was discussin'
Fate. But I mean the sober side o' Fate, when I say I believe in it. A
train starts out o' New York city just the same time that a fool cow
puncher ropes a pony so he can ride to town for a big time. The puncher
reaches the washed-out railroad bridge five minutes before the
train--what do you call that?

I was thinkin' o' these things while I was walkin' up the drive-way;
an' when I raised up my hand to knock, I felt just as if I'd been sent
for.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE CHINESE QUESTION

It happened just like I thought it would. I hadn't more than struck the
fourth or fifth tap before the door was opened by the finest little
woman you ever saw. She had a worried lock on her face, but when she
saw me the clouds rolled away an' she smiled clear into my heart. She
was a real lady--it stuck out all over her, like a keep-off-the-grass
sign.

"Are you the man?" sez she.

"Well, I'm one of 'em," sez I.

"You know I sent clear to San Francisco for a man," sez she, "an' I
suppose you're the man."

"To tell you the honest truth," sez I, "I was so preoccupied in Frisco
that I clean forgot to stop around for my mail, but as long as we're
conversin' on this subject, I'll just be bold enough to say 'at I'll
take the job, without askin' what it is."

"Have you had a wide experience?" sez she.

"Wide?" sez I. "Wide, only just begins to give you a hint at it. I
ain't filled with the lust of vanity, nor I ain't overly much given to
tootin' my own horn; but in my humble an' modest way I guarantee to be
able to do anything on this good, green earth 'at don't require a book
edication."

"Can I trust you?" sez she, lookin' into my face mighty searchin'.

"If you sell me anything," sez I, smilin' as near like a baby as I
could, "you'll have to trust me, 'cause I'm dead broke." She just stood
an' looked in through my face; an' I tell ya, boys, I was mighty glad
that in all this rip-snortin' world the' wasn't one single woman who
could rise up an' say that I hadn't played fair. She kept on lookin'
into me, until I knew she was readin' everything I had ever done or
said or thought, an' the sweat was tricklin' down my back like meltin'
snow.

"Yes," she sez finally, "I can trust you."

"Don'