"Of course I'm right, Ned. You'll soon see for yourself just how things are going. You know Lena likes admiration and she likes having her own way and she dearly loves making Turner jealous and she's positively unhappy if every man in sight isn't prancing along in her train. Mr. Conrad is a fine-looking young man, and he made a very good appearance when she saw him in San Francisco last year. I suppose she thought he didn't yield to her fascinations as he should, so she decided to come down here and gather him in. She knows she'll be awfully bored unless she can make her flirtation with him--well--ardent enough to keep her interested. I know enough about Lena to see that she's planning to have an affair that will keep her and Turner and Mr. Conrad simply sizzling as long as we stay." Castleton gave a long, low whistle. "Turner gets more jealous with every flirtation Lena has, and this whim of hers may prove serious. Conrad is the best superintendent this ranch ever had, and we want to keep him. But if Turner gets jealous he'll have to go--and mighty quick, too. And if he doesn't promptly succumb to Lena's fascinations--well, she's just vain enough to carry some story about him to Turner, so that we'd have to let him out for the sake of peace. We can't afford to lose Conrad, Fanny. I'll propose to Turner that we cut our stay short and go the day after the Fourth. We'll have to be here for the barbecue, of course." "Really, Ned, that's just like a man! Don't you know Lena can't be managed that way? She'd suspect at once that I was at the bottom of it and wanted to get her away from here, and then nothing could induce her to go. And you know, Ned, she always winds Turner around her finger as if he were a piece of silk. I can't understand why American wives take so much pleasure in managing their husbands; we Mexican women don't care to do that sort of thing." It was a prim little figure that pronounced the last sentence--save for the coquettish turn of the head and a melting glance of dark eyes that flashed for a moment upon her husband. He bent toward her a lover's face. "But you know how to manage just the same, Francisquita, _mi corazon_. Can't you think of some way to head Lena off and get her away before she does any mischief?"