“I know, I know, Trin—I’ve tho’t it all over!”
For the next few minutes the Girl stood strangely still and her face became very grave. Never before had the men seen her in a mood like this, and they exchanged wondering glances. Presently she said:
“Boys, of late a man in trouble has been on my mind—” She paused, her glance having caught the peculiar light which her words had caused to appear in Rance’s eyes, and lest he should misunderstand her meaning, she hastened to add: “Sid, o’ course,—an’ I fell to thinkin’ o’ the Prodigal Son. He done better, didn’t he?”
“But a card sharp,” objected Sonora from the depths of his big voice.
“Yes, that’s what!” interjected Trinidad, belligerently.
The Girl’s eyebrows lifted and a shade of resentment was in the answering voice:
“But s’pose there was a moment in his life when he was called upon to find a extra ace—can’t we forgive ’im? He says he’s sorry—ain’t you, Sid?”
All the while the Girl had been speaking The Sidney Duck kept his eyes lowered and was swallowing nervously. Now he raised them and, with a feeble attempt to simulate penitence, he acknowledged that he had done wrong. Nevertheless, he declared:
“But if I ’adn’t got caught things would ’a’ been different. Oh, yes, I’m sorry.”
In an instant the Girl was at his side removing the deuce of spades from his coat.