re to her house
in Junta, where she and her mother lived, and we were as welcome as the
light there always.

"'You have no idea of her music. They told me at concerts in Paris that
I was hearing the finest musicians in Europe, but they were not like
Kitty. They played for our money--Kitty played for our pleasure: it
makes so much difference,' he added as his fingers drummed an
accompaniment to the air he whistled.

"'One night Parker and I were sitting in a corner at Bowler's when we
heard a Greaser--a Mexican, you know--that Parker had refused to play
poker with the night before ask who the senorita was that had taken the
spirit out of Parker.

"'We both started forward instantly, but as the man was evidently
ignorant of our presence, Parker checked me with a fierce look in his
eyes that showed that the spirit of his former days would be very apt to
put a different ending on the conversation if it continued in that tone.

"'"Kitty," came the reply, as if that settled the matter.

"'"Kitty? Ah, your American names are so strange! Kitty! But she is
beautiful, is this Kitty! I met her in the Gulch road this afternoon
this side of Trocalara. Caramba! how she can ride! The Parker has good
taste: I drink to my future acquaintance with her."

"'As he raised the glass to his lips Parker stood behind his chair and
whispered, "If you drink that liquor, by God it will be the last drop
that shall ever pass your lips!"

"'The next morning they sold the Mexican's horse and traps to pay for
burying him and for the damage done, and Parker lay in bed at Kitty's
with that in his side you would not have cared to see.

"'Kitty never knew why he fought, and never even looked a reproach. It
was not much--I had seen him cut much worse in the stockyard at
home--but somehow he did not get well. The weeks slipped by, and each
time I called Kitty would say he was a little better, and a little
better, and oh yes, he would be back next week; but next week came so
often without Parker that at last, when the time came for changing
pastures, I went with the herd and left him still at Junta.

"'I would willingly have taken his place, look you, if I had known the
result, but perhaps the other way was the best, after all; for now Kitty
has two men to serve her,' he added meditatively.

"'When I got back to Junta in October, Parker was quite recovered, I
found out at the ranch, but was in town that evening, so I went quietly
into Kitty's hous