.
Withal he had a poet's soul, and all women love poetry in a man.

"Tell me about Twitter-or-Tweet, and so forth," she begged finally. "I
can't understand that man. Is he a pure fake?"

"I don't know," Hiram replied. "He was mighty good to me in a way.
He's been about a heap."

"Hiram, if you'll pardon me, we'll begin your lesson right now. I
wouldn't say a 'heap.' You must try to overcome such colloquialisms."

"I'll try never to say it again," Hiram promised unblushingly.

"But listen," she added. "Don't take me to task if you hear me saying
things in the vernacular of the railroad grade. I have to. As Gypo
Jo, I know thousands of the old-timers, and they expect certain things
of me for old times' sake. As Jerkline Jo, the situation will be much
the same. I am obliged to be a mixer. Men whose friendship I could
not afford to dispense with even if I wished to--which, I assure you, I
do not--won't stand for a high-and-mighty attitude in me. I am of the
railroad grade, and proud of it, and I must continue to be a part of
the rough-and-ready frontier life. Hiram, I suppose your ideas of
womanhood are very hallowed. Will you be greatly shocked when you see
me go into a tent saloon and drink a glass of beer with the rabble of
the big camps?"

"Do you do that?"

"I simply have to, Hiram. Ever since I was knee-high to you, until a
very few years ago, I lived with one or more tent saloons within a
stone's throw of our camp. Morals are, after all, a local conception,
Hiram. What is thought to be wrong in one country will be the accepted
practice just over the border line. It's all in the viewpoint. I not
only go into saloons with men friends of mine, but sometimes I play
poker or roulette or faro just to please them. And listen: Never in
all my rough-and-ready life in railroad camps have I been insulted by
regular stiffs, as the laborers are called. Certain outsiders have
misunderstood my freedom from conventionality on several occasions, but
always to their sorrow. Understand, I don't care the snap of my finger
for beer, or to gamble; but these things will be expected of me now as
in the old days when I knew no better, and I dare not assume a superior
attitude toward people who have known me since I was found, a mere
baby, half buried by the desert sands."

She told Hiram about her childhood then, and that she knew nothing of
her parents, not even her own true name. Hiram gave ear eagerly to he