" She stretched out
her arm and drew it back, gazing with pride at her great, swelling
muscles.
"But never me, who will tidy your cabin and cook half your meals for
you." He smiled ingratiatingly at Mrs. Thomas, who grew deeply pink
under his admiring smile. "Why do you not convert Saint Harry?"
"Harry's all right," she said. "You need convertin', he don't. I got an
idea that he's been right through the fiery furnace like them Bible boys
in their asbestos coats, he's smelted."
"Harry got my telegram?" asked Gallito, speaking in a low tone, after
first glancing toward Pearl, "and you have made a room ready for her?"
"Clean as a convent cell," said Jose, with his upcurling, mordant smile.
"The wind has roared through it all day and swept away every trace of
tobacco and my thoughts."
"That is well," replied Gallito with a sardonic twist of the mouth,
"and where do you sleep to-night?"
"In Saint Harry's cabin."
"So," Gallito nodded as if content. "That will be best."
"Best for both," agreed Jose, a flicker of mirth on his face. "My
constant companionship is good for Harry. It is not well to think you
have shown the Devil the door, kicked him down the hill and forgotten
him; and that he has taken his beating, learned his lesson and gone
forever. It is then that the Devil is dangerous. It is better, Gallito,
believe me, to remain on good terms with him, to humor him and to pass
the time of day. Humility is a great virtue and you should be willing to
learn something even of the Devil, not set yourself up on a high, cold,
sharp mountain peak, where you keep his fingers itching from morning to
night to throw you off.
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