Part 15 (2/2)
”Miss Nancy,” he repeated, and then said it over to himself as if the name pleased him mightily.
”People don't come to see the clothes. It's the dancing they want to see and-and--”
”And what?” she demanded.
”And the gir-the ladies. You see we don't have many of them out here and they are all married.”
”Every girl is a belle in this part of the country, I suppose,” observed Nancy. ”Even the ugly ones.”
Jim a.s.sented, regarding Nancy's charming face as if he had never seen a girl before in all his life.
”And as for the pretty ones, Miss--”
”Nancy.”
”Miss Nancy, they are fairly wors.h.i.+pped.”
”Are there any pretty ones?” she asked.
”There weren't until you came,” replied Jim almost in a whisper, and then dropped his knife on the floor. He stooped for so long to find it that Nancy thought he must have had a sudden attack of vertigo. She was sure of it when he finally lifted his crimson face.
”I think I have one pretty dress,” she said irrelevantly, looking into Jim's eyes with just a ghost of a smile. ”I think it would be nice to dress up a little. Don't you?”
”I'm afraid I can't,” muttered Jim. Then, once more, plucking up courage, he asked: ”Can I have the first dance?”
In the meantime, Mr. Steptoe was explaining many things to Miss Campbell regarding the rounding up of cattle and life on the plains.
”There are no more real cowboys,” he said, ”except in the Buffalo Bill Show. They are pa.s.sing out. Barney here is about as good a representative of the cla.s.s as there is.”
”And Tony,” suggested Barney.
”Tony is a good imitation but he's not the real thing because he wasn't born to it. Was you Tony?”
The man named Blackstone frowned.
”Birth has nothing to do with it,” he answered, and quickly changed the subject.
”He's the younger son of an English lord,” whispered Steptoe, ”but he don't like to have it mentioned.”
It was rather surprising on the whole to see how polite these rough men were. Following Tony's example, they stood up when the ladies filed out of the room, led by Rosina Steptoe.
Bedrooms in the Steptoe rancho were not luxurious apartments by any means. There were no bathrooms and only small ewers of water supplied the wants of the guests.
”I feel as if I had the yellow jaundice,” exclaimed Nancy, as she critically examined her features in a small wooden framed mirror back of the washstand. There was no dressing table.
”To the naked eye you appear to be perfectly healthy and normal,”
replied Billie, ”but I suppose Miss Nancy-Bell, you are taking notice with a view to dressing up, and for my part, I think we should go down just as we are. It's a cowboy dance.”
There was a continuous argument about clothes between Nancy and Billie which Miss Campbell invariably had to settle. On this occasion Miss Campbell was for appearing as spectators at the dance and not as active guests. She had not counted on being entertained at the Lodge, and she was unable to conceal her misgivings.
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