"I do. I've got to; I mean, I'd have to whether I did or not. It's like this, Mr. Seabeck. It isn't the big D brand; of course you knew it couldn't be. But it isn't yours, either. Someone was tempted and was weak. They're sorry now. They want to do the right thing, and it rests with you whether they can do it. You can shut them up in jail if you like; you have a perfect right to do it. Some men would do that and be able to sleep after it, I suppose. But I believe you're bigger than that. I believe you're big enough to see that if a person goes wrong and then sees the mistake and wants to pull back into the straight trail, a man--even the one who has been wronged--would be committing a moral crime to prevent it. To take a person who wants to make a fresh, honest start, and shut that person up amongst criminals and brand him as a criminal, seems to me a worse wrong than to steal a few head of cattle; don't you think so, Mr. Seabeck?" What Mr. Seabeck thought did not immediately appear in speech. He was pulling a little harder at his whiskers and staring at the ears of his horse. "That would depend on the person," he said at last. "Some men are born criminals." "Oh, we aren't talking about that kind of a man. Surely to goodness you don't call Charlie Fox a born criminal, or Marthy Meilke?" "Charlie Fox! Is that the person you mean, who has been--" "Yes, it is! And he is horribly sorry, and so is Marthy, and they'll pay you for the cattle. And if you do anything mean about it, it will simply kill poor old Marthy. You couldn't send her to the pen, Mr. Seabeck. Think how she's worked there in the Cove; and Charlie has worked like a perfect slave; and he was trying to get a start so he--could--get married--" "Hm-mm!" Rumors had reached Seabeck, thanks to Billy Louise's dropped lashes upon a certain occasion, which caused him to believe he saw further light. "And if you're going to be horrid--" "Will the--lady he wants to marry give him another chance?" "Don't you think she ought to--if she l-loves him?" Billy Louise studied the skyline upon the side farthest from Seabeck. "You say he wants to pay for the cattle and--" "He'll do anything he can to make amends," said Billy Louise, with conviction. "He'll take his medicine and go to jail if you insist," she added sorrowfully. "It will ruin his whole life, of course, and break a couple of women's hearts, but--" "It's a bad thing, a mighty bad thing, when a man tries to get ahead too fast." "It's a good thing when he learns the lesson without having to pay for it with his whole future," Billy Louise amended the statement. Seabeck smiled a little behind his fingers that kept tugging at his whiskers. "Did Charlie Fox send Miss Portia--"