“‘Oh, Ma Pettengill,’ cries the poor thing, ’I never meant anything horrid and primitive when I said daring.  As a matter of fact, I think these are quite modest to the intelligent eye.’

“‘Just what I’m trying to tell you,’ I says.  ’Exactly that; they’re modest to any eye whatever.  But here you are embarked on a difficult enterprise, with a band of flinty-hearted cutthroats trying to beat you to it, and, my dear child, you have a staunch nature and a heart of gold, but you simply can’t afford to be modest.’

“‘I don’t understand,’ says she, looking at herself in the glass again.

“‘Trust me, anyway,’ I implores.  ’Let others wear their Non Plush Ultras which are No. 9872’—­she tries to correct my pronunciation, but I wouldn’t stop for that.  ‘Never mind how it’s pronounced,’ I says, ’because I know well the meaning of it in a foreign language.  It means the limit, and it’s a very desirable limit for many, but for you,’ I says plainly, ’it’s different.  Your Non Plush Ultra will have to be a neat, ankle-length riding skirt.  You got one, haven’t you?’

“‘I have,’ says she, ’a very pretty one of tan corduroy, almost new, but I had looked forward to these, and I don’t see yet—­’

“Then I thought of another way I might get to her without blurting out the truth.  ‘Listen, Hetty,’ I says, ’and remember not only that I’m your friend but that I know a heap more about this fool world than you do.  I’ve had bitter experiences, and one of them got me at the time I first begun to wear riding pants myself, which must have been about the time you was beginning to bite dents into your silver mug that Aunt Caroline sent.  I was a handsome young hellion, I don’t mind telling you, and they looked well on me, and when Lysander John urged me to be brave and wear ’em outside I was afraid all the men within a day’s ride was going to sneak round to stare at me.  My!  I was so embarrassed, also with that same feeling you got in your heart this minute that it was taking an unfair advantage of any man—­you know!  I felt like I was using all the power of my young beauty for unworthy ends.

“’Well, do you know what I got when I first rode out on the ranch?  I got just about the once-over from every brute there, and that was all.  If one of them ranch hands had ever ogled me a second time I’d have known it all right, but I never caught one of the scoundrels at it.  First I said:  “Now, ain’t that fine and chivalrous?” Then I got wise.  It wasn’t none of this here boasted Western chivalry, but just plain lack of interest.  I admit it made me mad at first.  Any man on the place was only too glad to look me over when I had regular clothes on, but dress me like Lysander John and they didn’t look at me any oftener than they did him.  Not as often, of course, because as a plain human being and man’s equal I wasn’t near as interesting as he was.’

“‘But then, too,’ says Hetty, who had only been about half listening to my lecture, ’I thought it might be striking a blow at the same time for the freedom of woman.’