Part 3 (2/2)

”A little,” said Joy, ”but I think Merriweather Manor is much nicer.”

”Thanks, Joy. I'm always so proud and happy when you girls say you like my home. To me it's just the loveliest place in the world. I wouldn't change it for anything modern. Sometimes Auntie Gibbs gets fussy and says it's too much work.”

”Your dear old housekeeper is getting old,” said Enid.

”Yes, Auntie Gibbs is almost seventy and Dad wants her to have plenty of help. But she won't hear of it and she won't retire. So what are we to do?” said Bet wistfully. ”You know Dad and I love Auntie Gibbs and Uncle Nat as much as if they were really members of our family.”

The girls were thrilled as they stepped inside the old mansion. Here Was.h.i.+ngton had lived. He once sat at that very table, used those dishes, drank from those gla.s.ses. They could scarcely believe it.

They tried to imagine him as he had been before the responsibilities of the great war lay heavy on his shoulders. The young Was.h.i.+ngton, owner of the estate. There must have been gay parties in this house. Bet shut her eyes for a second and could see the belles of that day. She wondered if Lady Betty Merriweather had ever been a guest in the house.

It would not be impossible. She hoped that it was so.

”Some day,” said Bet, as they were returning to Was.h.i.+ngton on the boat, ”let's come and live for a winter in Was.h.i.+ngton. Then we can see things thoroughly. This is just skimming the surface. We haven't seen anything well.”

”Oh yes, we have!” laughed Joy. ”There's that Capitol. I could draw it with my eyes shut!”

But the girls were tired enough so that, a few days later, they welcomed the announcement that they would leave Was.h.i.+ngton at midnight.

The train with their cozy berths looked good to them and they settled down for the two days' trip to Arizona. It was good not to have to go sight-seeing for a while.

s.h.i.+rley strapped her camera in its case and laid it away. She had taken so many pictures in Was.h.i.+ngton that she was tired, for once in her life.

But that did not last long. Very quickly the nature of the country changed and they were going through the south-land, where the huts of the negroes added a picturesque touch to the landscape. Charming little black-eyed pickaninnies were at the stations and grinned at s.h.i.+rley while she took their pictures.

”Girls, I'll have pictures enough for my shop this winter, and for half a dozen more!” s.h.i.+rley exclaimed. s.h.i.+rley was the business girl and had made a success of a little gift shop in Lynnwood. She had helped to support her parents and been able to continue at school with her chums. In this venture, The Merriweather Girls had all joined. They had worked and planned under the leaders.h.i.+p of Colonel Baxter, and the little shop had given them many interesting adventures.

s.h.i.+rley had developed a commercial instinct and, together with her talent for photography, was what the girls liked to call a business success.

The sameness of the desert country through Texas, the dust and dirt was a bit trying to the nerves of the girls. But there was no complaint.

They looked ahead to the wonderful experience that would be theirs when they would leave the train and journey into the cowboy land.

”Kit, do tell us about them,” begged Joy.

”I won't do it. You've got your own ideas from the movies and I can't change them. Now you'll just have to get disappointed. There aren't any _handsome_ cowboys in my country.”

Kit spoke impatiently.

”Isn't Seedy Saunders handsome?” Joy asked again.

Kit shouted with laughter as she brought a picture of the old cowboy to her mind. He was a small man, bow-legged and thin. A sort of dried-up desert rat. In looks Seedy was nothing at all. Only when he was in the saddle did he s.h.i.+ne, for he could throw a rope better than anyone Kit had ever seen, and as for taming a wild horse, there was no better cowboy in the mountains than this old hand at the game.

”No, of course Seedy isn't handsome. He's old, and plain and common looking,” Kit answered.

”I'll not believe it until I see one. For I'm very sure that some of the cowboys on the screen are the real thing. Just see how they can ride and throw the ropes and catch the cows by the horns! Why, they're wonderful!”

Bet Baxter laughed. ”Go on, Joy, rave some more! And don't worry, we'll find a handsome cowboy if we have to import one from the movies for you.”

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