“My dear girl, have a little sense!” he said. “Is it such a terrible thing to think of marrying me? I’ll bet that, when you thought I was Buffalo Bill, you were of the opinion that I was rather a stunning fellow in general appearance! Now, didn’t you? And I’m as good-looking now as then. Come, be sensible! I’m not going to scalp you, or feed you to my dogs out there. In fact, I’m not going to hurt you at all. I’m simply going to hold you until you’re willing to go before our parson and marry me. Think what that will mean! You will be the wife of Panther Pete, and queen of the road agents! Doesn’t the prospect allure you? If it doesn’t, it ought to. To be queen of our road agents isn’t so small a matter as you may think it. They’re a jolly lot, and fighters every one, from the ground up. There are worse jobs than being queen to a set of fellows like that. Why, if you should be kind to ’em, and say a good word now and then to ’em, there ain’t a man among ’em wouldn’t die for you, and feel happy if you paid him with a smile. “I’m going to let you think about this. Think it over for a time, and carefully. We’re not such a bad lot. We do our robbing and stealing boldly, and risk our lives. Other men steal and rob under cover--by giving short weight, cheating their customers, stealing from the bank depositors and covering it up with lying figures, and in a thousand other ways; and the world thinks such fellows are great stuff. They’re thieves as much as we are here; but they’re cowardly thieves, which makes them worse than we are. Many a man that lives in a big house in the town and drives his wife out Sundays in a shining carriage is a whole lot more of a bad man than I am, and the world thinks he’s fine as silk. It all depends on how you do the stealing. Make the stealing respectable, and you’re respectable. Steal boldly, and the penitentiary waits for you.” He rose from his seat by the door. “My dear,” he said, as his hand fell on the knob and he seemed about to go, “just think that over. I’ll be good to you. I’m actually half in love with you, and I’ll be wholly so if you’ll give me a chance. You’re as handsome as a picture, and I like a pretty woman. I’ll play fair by you, I’ll treat you well, and you may have anything in the way of fine clothes or other finery that you want.” His brow darkened, as a new thought came to him. “And understand that it’s just as well to do as I say, and do it gracefully; for you can’t get away. Accept my offer, and you’ll have no trouble. But make trouble for us, and--well, you can see that we’ll have to make trouble for you.” He drew the door open and stepped through to the outside, with his hand on the knob and on the key. She saw that she could not escape by a wild rush, and he seemed to read her thought.