“Sometimes,” she admitted, “and then you spoil it all. You must take your arm away now.”
He took his arm away, and then it crept back again in a rapturous, bear-like hug.
“Aw, quit your fooling, kid,” he murmured in 240her ear, “you know you like me a lot. And say, I’m going to ask you a leading question–will you promise to answer ‘Yes’?”
He laughed and let her go, all but one hand that he held, and then he drew her back.
“You know what I mean,” he said. “I want you to be my wife.”
He waited, but there was no answer; only a swaying away from him and a reluctant striving against his grip. “Come on,” he urged, “let’s go in to Los Angeles and you can help me spend my money. I’ve got lots of it, kid, and it’s yours for the asking–the whole or any part of it. But you’re too pretty a girl to be shut up here in Jail Canyon, working your hands off at packing ore and slaving around like Hungry Bill’s daughters─”
“What do you mean?” she demanded, striking his hands aside and turning to face him angrily, and Wunpost saw he had gone too far.
“Aw, now, Wilhelmina,” he pleaded, then fell into a sulky silence as she tossed back her curls and spoke.
“Don’t you think,” she burst out, “that I like to work for my father? Well, I do; and I ought to do more! And I’d like to know where Hungry Bill comes in─”
“He don’t!” stated Wunpost, who was beginning to see red; but she rushed on, undeterred.