"This is going to be short an’ meaty. When I left here I struck Kansas City first, then Chicago, spending a few days in each of them. I ’d heard a lot about New York, an’ headed for it. I had n’t been there very long before I met a woman, an’ you know they can turn us punchers into fool knots. Well, I courted her four days an’ married her—oh, I was plumb in love with her, all right. She was one of them sweet, dreamy, clingin’ kind—pretty as h—l, too. I had a good job by then, and for most a year I was too happy to put my feet on this common old earth. I never gambled, never drank, and found it not very hard to quit cussing, except on real, high-toned occasions. But I never could get along without my gun. Civilization be d—d! There ’s more crooks an’ killers in New York than you an’ me ever saw or heard of. Once I was glad I had it—did n’t have to shoot, though. Th’ man got careless an’ let his gun waver a little an’ was lookin’ at th’ works in _mine_ before he knowed it. He did n’t want no money—what he needed was a match, an’ he was doin’ it to win a bet—or so he palavers. I takes his stubby .32 an’ kicks him so he ’d _earn_ that bet, an’ lets him go. I had to laugh—him stackin’ agin _me_ at that game! "Well, I got promoted, an’ had to travel out of town every two weeks. I ’d be gone two days an’ then turn up bright an’ smilin’ for my wife to admire. Once I was wired to come back quick on account of somethin’ unexpected turnin’ up, an’ I lopes home to spend that second night in my own bed. I remember now that I wondered if th’ wife would be there or at her mother’s. "She was there, but she was n’t admirin’ _me_. I saw red, an’ th’ fact that I did n’t go loco proved that I ain’t never goin’. But th’ trigger hung on a breath an’ _he_ knowed it. He was pasty white an’ could n’t hardly stand up. Then th’ shock wore off an’ he was th’ coolest man in town. "’What are you goin’ to do about it?’ he asks, slowly. ’Yore wife loves _me_, not you. She ’s allus loved me—you never really reckoned she was in love with _you_, did you?" "_I_ was shocked then, only I was wearin’ my poker face an’ he could n’t see nothin’. ’Why, I did think, once in a while, that she loved me,’ I retorts. ’I certainly kept you hangin’ ’round th’ gutter an’ _sneakin’_ in, anyhow. When I get through with you they ’ll find you in that same gutter.’ "’Goin’ to shoot me? I _ought_ to have a chance. I ain’t got no gun—you see, I ain’t wild an’ woolly like you,’ an’ he actually grinned! "’What kind of a chance did _I_ have, out of town an’ not suspectin’ any thin’?’ I asks. "’But she _loves_ me; don’t you understand? She was _happy_ with me. What good will it do _you_ if you kill me an’ break her heart? She ’ll never look at you again.’ "’I reckon she won’t anyhow,’ I retorts. ’Leastwise not if I can help it. Look here: Don’t you know you deserve to die?’