deteriorate them."

"Yet you would have sold this valley to that creature Okada."

"Farrel has convinced me of my error there. I have been anti-Jap since
the day Farrel was thrown from his horse and almost killed--by a Jap."

"I'm sure Kay is in love with him, John."

"Propinquity," he grunted.

"Fiddlesticks! The man is perfectly charming."

"Perhaps. We'll decide that point later. Do you think Farrel is
interested in Kay?"

"I do not know, John," his better half declared hopelessly. "If he is,
he possesses the ability to conceal it admirably."

"I'll bet he's a good poker-player. He has you guessing, old girl, and
the man who does that is a _rara avis_. However, Katie dear, if I were
you I wouldn't worry about this--er--affair."

"John, I can't help it. Naturally, I'm curious to know the thoughts in
the back of that boy's head, but when he turns that smiling innocent
face toward me, all I can see is old-fashioned deference and amiability
and courtesy. I watch him when he's talking to Kay--when he cannot
possibly know I am snooping, and still, except for that frank
friendliness, his face is as communicative as this old adobe wall. A
few days ago he rode in from the range with a great cluster of wild