Part 10 (1/2)
”I'm so sorry,” Clover said again. ”Perhaps somebody will go away, and Mrs. Marsh have a front room for you before long.”
”She did say that she might. I suppose she thinks some of her boarders will be dying off. In fact, there is one--that tall man in gray in the reclining-chair--who didn't seem to me likely to last long. Well, we will hope for the best. I'm not one who likes to make difficulties.”
This prospect, together with dinner, which was presently announced, raised Mrs. Watson's spirits a little, and Clover left her in the parlor, exchanging experiences and discussing symptoms with some ladies who had sat opposite them at table. Mrs. Hope came for a call; a pretty little woman, as friendly and kind as her husband. Then Clover and Phil went out for a stroll about the town. Their wonder increased at every turn; that a place so well equipped and complete in its appointments could have been created out of nothing in fifteen years was a marvel!
After two or three turns they found themselves among shops, whose plate-gla.s.s windows revealed all manner of wares,--confectionery, new books, pretty gla.s.s and china, bonnets of the latest fas.h.i.+on. One or two large pharmacies glittered with jars--purple and otherwise--enough to tempt any number of Rosamonds. Handsome carriages drawn by fine horses rolled past them, with well-dressed people inside. In short, St. Helen's was exactly like a thriving Eastern town of double its size, with the difference that here a great many more people seemed to ride than to drive. Some one cantered past every moment,--a lady alone, two or three girls together, or a party of rough-looking men in long boots, or a single ranchman sitting loose in his stirrups, and swinging a stock whip.
Clover and Phil were standing on a corner, looking at some ”Rocky Mountain Curiosities” displayed for sale,--minerals, Pueblo pottery, stuffed animals, and Indian blankets; and Phil had just commented on the beauty of a black horse which was tied to a post close by, when its rider emerged from a shop, and prepared to mount.
He was a rather good-looking young fellow, sunburnt and not very tall, but with a lithe active figure, red-brown eyes and a long mustache of tawny chestnut. He wore spurs and a broad-brimmed sombrero, and carried in his hand a whip which seemed two-thirds lash. As he put his foot into the stirrup, he turned for another look at Clover, whom he had rather stared at while pa.s.sing, and then changing his intention, took it out again, and came toward them.
”I beg your pardon,” he said; ”but aren't you--isn't it--Clover Carr?”
”Yes,” said Clover, wondering, but still without the least notion as to whom the stranger might be.
”You've forgotten me?” went on the young man, with a smile which made his face very bright. ”That's rather hard too; for I knew you at once. I suppose I'm a good deal changed, though, and perhaps I shouldn't have made you out except for your eyes; they're just the same. Why, Clover, I'm your cousin, Clarence Page!”
”Clarence Page!” cried Clover, joyfully; ”not really! Why, Clarence, I never should have known you in the world, and I can't think how you came to know me. I was only fourteen when I saw you last, and you were quite a little boy. What good luck that we should meet, and on our first day too!
Some one wrote that you were in Colorado, but I had no idea that you lived at St. Helen's.”
”I don't; not much. I'm living on a ranch out that way,” jerking his elbow toward the northwest, ”but I ride in often to get the mail. Have you just come? You said the first day.”
”Yes; we only got here this morning. And this is my brother Phil. Don't you recollect how I used to tell you about him at Ashburn?”
”I should think you did,” shaking hands cordially; ”she used to talk about you all the time, so that I felt intimately acquainted with all the family. Well, I call this first rate luck. It's two years since I saw any one from home.”
”Home?”
”Well; the East, you know. It all seems like home when you're out here.
And I mean any one that I know, of course. People from the East come out all the while. They are as thick as b.u.mblebees at St. Helen's, but they don't amount to much unless you know them. Have you seen anything of mother and Lilly since they got back from Europe, Clover?”
”No, indeed. I haven't seen them since we left Hillsover. Katy has, though. She met them in Nice when she was there, and they sent her a wedding present. You knew that she was married, didn't you?”
”Yes, I got her cards. Pa sent them. He writes oftener than the others do; and he came out once and stayed a month on the ranch with me. That was while mother was in Europe. Where are you stopping? The Shoshone, I suppose.”
”No, at a quieter place,--Mrs. Marsh's, on the same street.”
”Oh, I know Mother Marsh. I went there when I first came out, and had caught the mountain fever, and she was ever so kind to me. I'm glad you are there. She's a nice woman.”
”How far away is your ranch?”
”About sixteen miles. Oh, I say, Clover, you and Phil must come out and stay with us sometime this summer. We'll have a round-up for you if you will.”
”What is a 'round-up' and who is 'us'?” said Clover, smiling.
”Well, a round-up is a kind of general muster of the stock. All the animals are driven in and counted, and the young ones branded. It's pretty exciting sometimes, I can tell you, for the cattle get wild, and it's all we can do to manage them. You should see some of our boys ride; it's splendid, and there's one half-breed that's the best hand with the la.s.so I ever saw. Phil will like it, I know. And 'us' is me and my partner.”
”Have you a partner?”