"Well, he's goin' to know just what it means before he does anything of the kind. He can't be roped in blind. I won't stand for it, Ross!"
"You'll get the others down on you if you say too much."
"What do I care? He's worth more than all the rest of them. I'd rather have his respect than that of the whole gang."
Havener looked at her, knitting his brows.
"You're queer," he said, doubtingly. "I don't know what to make of you. If you didn't talk right out to me, I might think you was hard hit by the fellow."
"You know it's not that, Ross," protested the little soubrette. "I'm not in love with him, but I respect him, and I don't want to see him fooled. He's white, and he don't know everything about the tricks of people in the profession. He has a way of thinking everybody honest till he finds out they are crooked."
"Still he hasn't let anybody get ahead of him thus far, unless it was this chap Harris that he told us about. That fellow did him up by smashing his stuff."
"Well, I'm going to tell him something."
"Better keep still till you hear what he proposes. It's no use going off half cocked."