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 the dance," Dan announced, so full of excitement and good feeling that he fairly panted.

It was Barrett's turn to explode now. He came out with it like a veteran.

"The hell she did!" he said.

"Cattle Kate said to tell you, Ed; she thought you might be interested to hear about it."

Dan winked with crafty humor, as much as te say he knew it wasn't through any desire of Kate's to stir a feeling of jealousy in other quarters and maybe head off the excursion.

Barrett was upset by a turmoil in which he floundered with a feeling of panic. When he had suggested the programme to Alma, which she was pursuing with such speed, he had very little notion that she would attempt it, or that she ever would have the opportunity of doing so if inclined to take the hazard. His thought at the time had been that Findlay would be well out of the world before Alma could begin plotting his confusion through the jealousy of Cattle Kate.

He didn't want her going about in Findlay's company, no matter if she might possess herself of all the secrets he had concealed in his black heart. The man breathed villainy; there was pestilence in his presence.

Fred was the only one of the three not so absorbed in this news as to forget that he had come there on a hostile mission. He kept watch on the front door, one eager ear open for the gossip in the room.

"A girl that can stay good in Bonita like Cattle Kate's done is too good a girl for Dale Findlay," said Fred.