They looked as soft and unscarred as her own.

What kind of work had he done, if he told the truth?
"Well, if you work hard for dad, learn to handle the cowboys, and never take up those old bad habits--" "You mean drink and cards?
I swear I'd forgotten them for three years--until yesterday.

I reckon I've the better of them." "Then you'll make dad and me happy.

You'll be happy, too." Columbine thrilled at the touch of fineness coming out in him.

There was good in him, whatever the mad, wild pranks of his boyhood.
"Dad wants us to marry," he said, suddenly, with shyness and a strange, amused smile.