Part 2 (1/2)
”Did she live here with you?”
”No; she died before she could get here.”
”Oh dear!” said his little visitor.
The two small words were eloquent with sympathy.
That was a red-letter day for Mrs. Nancy Tarbell. She felt as though she were getting a glimpse of the great West for the first time in all these years. When her host casually informed her that he owned about seven square miles of land and two hundred head of cattle, she gave a little gasp of amazement.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ”A HANDFUL OF COTTONWOOD TREES Cl.u.s.tERED ABOUT THE HOUSE.”]
”I always wanted to see a cattle ranch,” she said.
”Oh, this is no cattle ranch. It's only a dairy.” And he took her about through the many sheds and barns, which were hidden in a hollow a few rods away. Here he showed her his ice-houses, his huge churns, and his mammoth ”separator” that went whirling around, dividing the cream from hundreds of gallons of milk in the time it would have taken her to skim a couple of three-pint pans.
”Sakes alive!” she exclaimed again and again, as these wonders were explained to her--”sakes alive! what would our folks say to that?”
”You'll have a great deal to tell them when you go back,” said Warren, studying her animated face.
”If I ever go,” she said, with a little sigh.
This was after dinner, which had been a savory meal served by a man cook.
”Do you want very much to go?”
”Oh yes! I shall go just as soon as ever Atchison begins to pay again. I hope I haven't any false pride,” she added, deprecatingly, ”but I can live cheaper here than I should be willing to there, where I've seen better days.”
Brave little Mrs. Nancy! It was not indeed false pride that deterred her, but the fear of being a burden to others.
They were sitting in the big living-room, which on this great occasion had been made as neat as her own little parlor. Antlers and other strange trophies ornamented the walls, where also guns and spurs and la.s.sos hung. The little woman did not seem in the least out of place among these warlike objects. She sat in an old leathern chair, her feet on a coyote-skin, looking about her with quick bright motions that made the big fellow think of the shy field creatures that sometimes strayed over his threshold--ground squirrels, rabbits, and the like. David lay curled up close beside her, and half a dozen less-favored dogs looked wistfully in from time to time. Warren was wondering whether she could possibly fit in naturally to the stiff, scant New England life which he had fled away from when a boy. Presently he said:
”Have you any idea how much your house and land are worth?”
”Oh yes! We paid ten hundred and fifty dollars for it when the house was new, but it's a good deal out of repair now.”
”But you know real estate is pretty high here just now.”
Struck by the peculiar emphasis with which he spoke, Mrs. Nancy gave him a startled look. ”Why--why--what do you mean?”
”Well, I was talking with a real-estate man about the value of land the other day, and he said you could realize six thousand dollars on your place any day.”
”Six--thousand--dollars?”
”Yes, six thousand dollars.”
”Why, that's just what we had in Atchison!”
”Well, I guess there's no question but that you could get that for your land to-morrow.”
It had indeed been an eventful day, and it was followed by a sleepless night. For years little Mrs. Nancy had had one great wish, and suddenly it was to be fulfilled. She could go home--home to New England, to the village where she was born, to the village where everybody knew her, where they would talk of Willie. Through the hours of the night, which sped fast, she thought and thought of the home-coming. She pa.s.sed in review all her old neighbors, forgetting for the moment how many would be found missing; she wandered in spirit through the familiar pastures, beneath the green trees, beside the pond at the foot of the hill.
Suddenly a strange suggestion intruded itself upon her thoughts. Must it not be ”kind o' damp” with all that swamp land so near by, and the great elm-trees so close about the house? Her house no longer, however. It had pa.s.sed into the hands of strangers--city people, whom she did not know.