Norton's eyes lighted. "You're gettin' back at me for what I said to you the day before yesterday--when you stopped off at Hazelton's," he declared. "All the same you'll know more about women when you've had more experience with them. When I told you that I'd been 'bossed,' I didn't mean that I'd been bossed regular. No woman that knows just how much she can run a man ever lets him know that she's bossin' him. Mebbe she'll act like she's lettin' him have his own way. But she's bossin' him just the same. He sort of likes it, I reckon. At least it's only when a man gets real mad that he does a little bossin' on his own account. And then, like as not, he'll find that he's made a big mistake. Like I did to-day about hangin' Greasy, for instance." Hollis bowed gravely to Mrs. Norton. "I think he ought to be forgiven, Mrs. Norton," he said. "Day before yesterday he presumed to lecture me on the superiority of the married male over the unmarried one. And now he humbly admits to being bossed. What then becomes of his much talked of superiority? Shall I--free and unbossed--admit inferiority?" Mrs. Norton smiled wisely as she moved around the table, arranging the dishes. "I couldn't decide that," she said, "until it is explained to me why so many men are apparently so eager to engage a boss." "I reckon that settles that argument!" gloated Norton. Had this conversation taken place two months before Hollis might have answered, Why, indeed, were men so eager to engage a boss? Two months before he might have answered cynically, remembering the unhappiness of his parents. That he did not answer now showed that he was no longer cynical; that he had experienced a change of heart. Of course Mrs. Norton knew this--Norton must have told her. He could appreciate the subtle mockery that had suggested the question, but he did not purpose to allow Norton to sit there and enjoy the confusion that was sure to overtake him did he attempt to continue the argument with Mrs. Norton. He was quite certain that Norton anticipated such an outcome. "Perhaps Norton can answer that?" he suggested mildly. "I ain't no good at guessin' riddles," jeered Norton. "But I reckon you know--if you wanted to tell." But Hollis did not tell, and the conversation shifted to other subjects. After supper they went out upon the porch. A slight breeze had sprung up with the dusk, though the sky was still cloudless. At ten o'clock, when they retired, the breeze had increased in velocity, sighing mournfully through the trees in the vicinity of the ranchhouse, though there was no perceptible change in the atmosphere--it seemed that the wind was merely shifting the heat waves from one point to another. "A good, decent rain would save lots of trouble to-morrow," said Norton as he and Hollis stood on the porch, taking a last look at the sky before going to bed.