THE BAD MAN



  You could have knocked the Mexican down with
a straw. This time he was flabbergasted.
  "You all too fine, too tender, too good to me,"
he said; and there was a softness in his speech that
none of them had guessed could be there, save,
perhaps, Gilbert.
  "Oh, no," Jones said. "We wanted a little
Mexican touch in our households. And we've
never forgotten you, old friend. Tell me, where
have you been all these months We hoped to
hear from you. But never a word or a sign from
you. Aren't you just a little ashamed of yourself
now, when you see how much we have been think-
ing of you"
  Lopez hung his head. "Yes, my frand, I am
ashamed." Then he looked around at all of them.
" I love you very much. I dream of you often, an'
I say to myself. 'Some day I go back there, an'
see my old frands which I make so 'appy.' But
I bandit no more, an' travel I hate in trains. I
reform. I settle down in Mexico City. I 'ave
baby too, an' good wife, good mother. But I
get 'omesick, 'ow you say, for you all, an' so
I come down for what you call 'oliday, an'-
'ere I am! You 'ave made me very 'appy to-
night. I love you all even more seence I see



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