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of you and I hate to see Kane unhappy. If I'm out of order, I'm sorry and——"

But Dolores cuts me off with a quick little pat on the arm, tellin' me she understands perfectly and I got nothin' to apologize for, as my valuable friendship is somethin' she never intends to lose. We talked about this and we talked about that, with me easin' the name of Kid Roberts into the conversation at every chance, and as I got up to shove off it looked like one visit from the Kid himself would bring them together forever and a day. So, all in all, I felt pretty well pleased with my day's work.

How the so ever, as I go out the door I run into somethin' in the hall which makes matters more complicated. The somethin' is no less than Mr. Don Miguel Espinosa, and when I heard friend butler repeat his monicker I stood still and took a good long look at this foreign banana. He's got on a swallow-tail coat, uncuffed pants, white spats, some flowers in his buttonhole and some more in his hand, packs a gold-headed cane, a watch crystal over one eye, and a silk hat on his bean. A high hat in the daytime!

I give this big clown a stare which seems to panic him for a instant, because he kind of shivered before lookin' me up and down with his little beady eyes like I'm somethin' puss dragged in on a wild and stormy night. This steams me up, and I would of knocked him as cold as Nanook's nose only I didn't want to start nothin' in Dolores's house. So I let him live, figurin' I couldn't possibly be unlucky enough not to get another chance at this mug—and I wasn't!