"And she wins the respect of strange men by blows!" she said.
"He deserved all he got, didn't he?" Beck asked, smiling. "I like to see a bad hombre like that get set down by a woman. There's something humiliating about it that counts a lot more than the whippin' she gave him."
"But wouldn't it have spoken more for the chivalry of the country if some man had done it for her?"
"That's likely. But there ain't much chivalry here, ma'am."
"And am I so fortunate as to have enjoyed the protection of what little there is?"
He looked at her blankly.
"I had to come clear to Ute Crossing to learn how one man defended me from the insult of another."
He stirred uneasily on the seat.
"That was nothin'," he growled. "I'd been waiting for a chance to land on Webb for a long time."
He did not look at her and his manner had none of its usual bluntness; clearly he was evasive and, more, uncomfortable.