His small round eyes for the first time rested on De Ferrieres’ face, and were quickly withdrawn.  It was evident that this abstracted look, which had fascinated his lodger, was merely a resolute avoidance of De Ferrieres’ glance, and it became apparent later that this avoidance was due to a ludicrous appreciation of De Ferrieres’ attractions.

“And after we’ve done that we must kalkilate what Rosey is, and what Rosey wants.  P’r’aps, ye allow, you know what Rosey is?  P’r’aps you’ve seen her prance round in velvet bonnets and white satin slippers, and sich.  P’r’aps you’ve seen her readin’ tracks and v’yages, without waitin’ to spell a word, or catch her breath.  But that ain’t the Rosey ez I knows.  It’s a little child ez uster crawl in and out the tail-board of a Mizzouri wagon on the alcali-pizoned plains, where there wasn’t another bit of God’s mercy on yearth to be seen for miles and miles.  It’s a little gal as uster hunger and thirst ez quiet and mannerly ez she now eats and drinks in plenty; whose voice was ez steady with Injins yellin’ round yer nest in the leaves on Sweetwater ez in her purty cabin up yonder. That’s the gal ez I knows!  That’s the Rosey ez my ole woman puts into my arms one night arter we left Laramie when the fever was high, and sez, ‘Abner,’ sez she, ’the chariot is swingin’ low for me to-night, but thar ain’t room in it for her or you to git in or hitch on.  Take her and rare her, so we kin all jine on the other shore,’ sez she.  And I’d knowed the other shore wasn’t no Kaliforny.  And that night, p’r’aps, the chariot swung lower than ever before, and my ole woman stepped into it, and left me and Rosey to creep on in the old wagon alone.  It’s them kind o’ things,” added Mr. Nott thoughtfully, “that seem to pint to my killin’ you on sight ez the best thing to be done.  And yet Rosey mightn’t like it.”

He had slipped one of his feet out of his huge carpet slippers, and, as he reached down to put it on again, he added calmly:  “And ez to yer marrying her it ain’t to be done.”

The utterly bewildered expression which transfigured De Ferrieres’ face at this announcement was unobserved by Nott’s averted eyes, nor did he perceive that his listener the next moment straightened his erect figure and adjusted his cravat.

“Ef Rosey,” he continued, “hez read in v’yages and tracks in Eyetalian and French countries of such chaps ez you and kalkilates you’re the right kind to tie to, mebbee it mout hev done if you’d been livin’ over thar in a pallis, but somehow it don’t jibe in over here and agree with a ship—­and that ship lying comf’able ashore in San Francisco.  You don’t seem to suit the climate, you see, and your general gait is likely to stampede the other cattle.  Agin,” said Nott, with an ostentation of looking at his companion but really gazing on vacancy, “this fixed-up, antique style of yours goes better with them ivy-kivered ruins in Rome and Palmyry that Rosey’s mixed