Part 14 (1/2)
”No, and I don't expect to change it. I don't know how long I'll be here.” He strode up and down the room. ”But I'll stick it out,” he added, talking to himself. ”It's got to be done, no matter what comes.”
”Yes, stick it out,” said the hired man. ”You've got too good a hold to turn loose now. The fellers around have begun to praise you. They say you are goin' to make a go of it.”
”A go of what?”
”I don't know, but that's what they said.”
”Bob, do you remember my telling you not long ago that I once jumped on a horse and galloped away from a girl.”
”Yes, and I thought of how different your case was from mine. Girl galloped away from me. But what about it?”
”That woman is over at Mrs. Stuvic's now.”
”You don't mean the same woman?”
”Yes, I do; the very same woman--a Norwegian.”
”Did she say she was the same?”
”She hasn't said anything about it and neither have I. But I know she's the same. She wasn't quite grown when I saw her in a little town out West. She was at a hotel--I think her uncle ran the place. I don't believe she ever noticed me. But I noticed her, and I made up my mind that I wasn't going to be tangled up with her, so I rode away, whistling over the prairie. Yes, sir, the same woman. I never could forget that face, not so beautiful, but a face that takes hold and never turns loose.”
”Well, that is strange,” said the hired man, looking at an ace of clubs and slowly placing it on the table. ”Believe I'm going to fluke on this thing. Smart woman, Bill?”
”I don't know; I can't tell.”
”But you've heard her talk, haven't you?”
”Yes,” said Milford, standing at the window, looking out at the mist, now trailing low over the fields. ”I've heard her talk, but when a man has galloped away from a woman he's not much of a judge of her mind.”
”This ten sp.e.c.k.e.r wants to go right here. Now let me see. I guess you're right, Bill. But what are you goin' to do about it?”
”I don't know.”
”Well, that's perfectly natural. Six goes here. You better not let the old woman find it out. She'll devil you to death.”
”She already knows there's something up. It didn't take but a moment for me to satisfy myself that this was the same girl; and I struck out again, intending to go away; but I stopped at the gate and went back.”
”But what makes you run away from 'em? I run after 'em. Built that way.
Ca.n.a.l cook goes here,” he said, referring to a queen. ”Is she skittish, Bill?”
”No,” said Milford, turning from the window and walking up and down the room. ”She's modest, but not skittish.”
”And you don't remember whether she's got good sense or not?”
”Of course she has. What the devil are you talking about?”
”All right. But you said you didn't know. I simply want to get at the merits of the case. I know a good deal about women as women go, and they go. Been married once and slipped up three times. Can she talk without smilin' all the time?”
”Yes. She's very earnest at times.”
Mitch.e.l.l raked the cards together, shuffled them and threw the pack on the table. ”A woman that smiles all the time wants you to think she's better than she is. I married a smile.”