"You'd be cheated," Ellis grinned sheepishly. "Say, what are you so gosh darn low about?" "I'm not low. Are you coming over tonight?" "The kids will be over. I have work to do." "Don't you ever think of anything else?" "Can't. When you're an old man like me, with a bunch of youngsters looking to you, you won't be able to either." For a moment they walked in silence while Ellis's introspective mood enfolded him like an invisible cloak. He said suddenly, "Joe, what do you think of women?" For a moment, because he was puzzled, Joe did not answer. It was more than a casual question, and behind it lay something that Joe failed to understand. When he did answer, he said very gently, "I know about only one woman, son. And I think the world of her." "Do you believe in love?" Joe said firmly, "I most certainly do." "Do--do you think it's right--? Oh, darn it! I'm all at sea!" he steadied. "Joe, I'm giving it to you straight. I'm going to marry Barbara if I can! Do you have any objections?" Shocked surprise rippled through Joe and his heart turned cold. He felt numb. He had always known that Barbara would marry some day, but that day remained in the distant future and there was no need to worry about it now. Joe thought of the young man who walked beside him, and of how very little he knew about him. Again he thought of Snedeker's reference to Ellis as a woman chaser and he had a great urge to ask Ellis to tell him so that his own doubts might be cleared. But because he did not know how to ask, Joe said only, "Have you asked Barbara?" "Yes." "What did she say?" "She didn't say no." Joe pondered, trying to straighten this in his mind. He knew a little more about Ellis than he had known a moment ago. Wherever he had come from, and whatever he might have done, he had not tried to evade this issue. He had given it to Joe straight, as a man should, and that was a large point in his favor. Ellis repeated, "I asked if you had any objections." Joe said quietly, "I'm her father, Ellis, not her master. I'm not going to choose a husband for her." "Thanks, Joe." There was another silence, and Ellis said thoughtfully, "Joe--" "Yes?" "There's a New Year's dance at Laramie. Will you let Barbara go with me?" "Laramie's a long ways off." "We'll go one day and come back the next. She can stay with Sergeant Driscoll's wife overnight." "Have you asked her?" "She said she'd like to go." "You'll have to ask her mother." "I know. She said I'd have to have your permission and her mother's." Joe hesitated, then thought of Emma's wisdom. She would know exactly what to do, and Joe said, "It's all right with me if it is with her mother." "Thanks again, Joe."