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 "That McCoy kid'll be up there, suckin' a stick of candy!" she said.

"Why, Miss Fannie!"

"Oh, it's all right, Texas—go on up and see her," she said, her voice trembling, her face turned away. "She's a good kid, I haven't got anything against her. Go on up and see her if you want to."

"Fannie, you mustn't think that way about me. Miss McCoy can't be anything in this world to me."

"You care for her—you care a whole lot for her!"

"Her way and mine, Fannie—"

"I gave you my cards and you played them for her—you thought of her all the time!"

"You didn't want me to hold Stott up—that would have been blackmail, Fannie."

"You held him up for her!"

"That wasn't a hold-up, it was restitution. Stott owed them; he didn't owe you and me anything that money would pay."

Fannie thought it over a little while, then she turned frankly to him, her hand extended, a smile on her lips, a struggle in her throat to hold down the tears.

"I know it, Texas. I've run with crooks so long I can't see straight all at once."