"Shucks, Kurt! You got such a bad bargain when you drew me, you ought to have something thrown in. It's all done up in a nice napkin--looks as if it would taste good. Oh, what a feast! Pork sandwiches, deviled eggs, dills, a keep-hot bottle of coffee, layer cake and pie. Bender knew how to pick a partner. What shall we drink out of?" He produced a drinking cup, poured some coffee in it and handed it to her. "Thank you," she said. "Shall we make it a loving cup, Kurt?" He ignored her question and plunged greedily into a pork sandwich. He had had so much business in town that day, he had taken no time to eat. The girl partook of Bender's pilfered luncheon sparingly and without zest. "Aren't you hungry?" he asked her presently, his temper disappearing as his appetite was appeased. "No; it's a long time since I've been hungry." "What did you steal this food for then?" "I don't know. Yes, I do. It was because that Bender woman gave me such a once-over, and decided I was the scum of the earth. Is that the way your topside tavern woman will look at me?" "No;" he replied earnestly. "She's made a woman out of worse than you." "Thanks!" she said, folding the napkin neatly. "I thought you had my number for the worst ever. It's wonderful what food will do for a man. Hope she will let me stay at the top of the hill while I get an appetite. The doctor said I didn't need medicine--just the right kind of food, rest and good air. I wouldn't have got them, maybe, but for you, and I suppose I haven't been very grateful." Her tone was low and wistful. A look she hadn't seen before--a kindly, sympathetic look--leapt to his eyes and softened the harshness of his features. "Have you been sick, real sick?" he asked. "Yes; clean played out, the doctor said." "Then I am glad I brought you. We will make you well physically, anyway." "And maybe the other will follow?" "It will, if you will try to do right. Will you?" "Sure. I've always tried--most always. I can't be very bad up at the top of a hill, unless I get lonesome. You'd better tell that 'best woman' to double-lock things. It's with stealing the same as with drinking--if anything you crave is lying around handy, good-bye to good resolutions." "I'll see to that. I'm a sheriff, remember." "Look, sheriff!" With a mocking smile, she held up a watch. "I took that off you slick as anything when you passed the coffee. It was like taking candy from a baby." Anger at her nerve and chagrin that he had been so neatly tricked kept him silent. "It's not altogether a habit," she continued in mock apology; "it's a gift." "Jo got her number wrong," he thought. "She was just playing him with her sad, nice, little-girl manner. For his sake, I'll see that they don't meet. I wonder just why she is playing this role with me?" "You might give me credit for returning your ticker," she said in abused tone. "I never knew but one other person," he said coolly, "that affected me as unpleasantly as you do."