It was the wild West.

It was a country where, not twenty years before, men did justice upon men without the assistance of the law; and the West understood that the dark insult just uttered would in days not far gone have meant death.

The onlookers exclaimed, and then became silent, because a subtle sense of tragedy suddenly smothered their voices.

Upon the silence there broke a little giggling laugh.

It came from lips that were one in paleness with a face grown stony.
"I ought to kill you," Orlando said quietly after a moment, yet scarcely above a whisper.