He backed, and began to stammer an apology; but she did not wait to hear a word of it.

For an instant she stared into his face, and then, like a rabbit released from its paralysis of dread, she darted past him and deaf up the stone steps into the house.

He heard the kitchen-door shut, and the click of the lock.
He heard other doors slam suggestively; and he laughed in spite of his astonishment.
"And who the deuce might that be ?" he asked, feeling in his pocket for smoking material.
Phoebe seemed undecided between tears and laughter.

"Oh, Grant, GRANT! She'll think you're ready to murder everybody on the ranch--and you can be such a nice boy when you want to be! I did hope--" "I don't want to be nice," Grant objected, drawing a match along a fairly smooth rock.
"Well, I wanted you to appear at your best; and, instead of that, here you come, squabbling with old Hagar like--" "Yes--sure.

But who is the timid lady ?" "Timid! You nearly killed the poor girl, besides scaring her half to death, and then you call her timid.