"Murdered!" he challenged. "You've heard just one side of it, of course. Bisbee got drunk and insulted Mr. Rickard. They call him the Kid, you know. Say, Sis, he's had a life for you! Full of adventure, all kinds of sport. And Bisbee shot first, too. But the Kid got him!" he concluded triumphantly. "Galloway told me all about it . . . and what a blundering rummy the fool sheriff is."
"Galloway?" queried Virginia uneasily. "You know him too, already?"
"Sure," replied Elmer. "He's a good sort, too, You'll like him. I asked him around."
"For goodness' sake, Elmer, when did you get to San Juan? Have you been here a week or just a few hours?"
"Got in on the stage at noon, of course. But it doesn't take a man all year to get acquainted in a town this size."
"A man!" giggled Florrie.
"I can see," laughed Virginia, "that you two are going to be more kin than kind to each other; you'll be quarrelling in another moment."
Florrie looked delighted at the prospect; Elmer yawned and brooded over his pipe. But out of the tail of his eye he took stock again of her blonde prettiness, and she, ready from the beginning to make fun of him, repeated to herself the words she had used to Virginia:
"But he is handsome . . . and distinguished looking!"