Part 1 (2/2)

”I went over to her and said: 'Excuse my nerve, little girl, but I guess you're in the wrong pew.'

”She looked at me sort of funny; then she smiled and said: 'Same to you!'

”Her voice sounded like low, soft music--contralto kind.

”'Yes;' I said. 'You're right. I'm a cowboy, not a country boy, and I'm in Chicago to see the sights; but I'd ask for blinders if I stayed around here much longer. Who brought you here?'

”'n.o.body,' she said, looking down. 'I came by myself.'

”'I'm glad of it,' I tell her, 'and I'm the guy that's going to take you away from here.'

”'Why?' she asked me, 'and how do you know I'll go with you.'

”She'd kept her eyes away from me all this time. I said: 'Look at me.'

”She did. Right at me, the way kids do--not bold--just curious. Good night! It did something to my heart when her eyes looked into mine that way.

”'Can you trust me?' I asked after a minute.

”'Yes,' she said; and I knew she meant it.

”'I want to dance with you,' I told her, 'but I don't want to do it here.'

”'Where can we go?' she asked.

”'I know a man in Chicago,' I said, 'who has asked me to come to his place. It ain't stylish enough for you, but it's run right and respectable. It ain't very far from here. Reilly's. Know it?'

”'I've heard of it,' she said, 'but I've never been there.'

”Of course she hadn't. I'd seen right off she was just a kid and hadn't been around to places.

”'Will you go there with me now?' I asked her.

”'Yes;' she said. 'I know you're all right.'

”Maybe I wasn't feeling good when I'd got her out of there and steered her through the streets! She was a little mite of a thing, and young, but very quiet; her eyes had a sad look.

”We went to Reilly's: He was up here in the hill country once for a vacation--the time you were out on the coast. We fellows gave him some time, and he liked it fine. Well, he told us the place was ours. The music was great, and we started right out on the floor. Say! I was feeling as fit and stepping as lively as if I had had a million drinks, but I hadn't had one. There was no getting around it. That little girl in her white dress had landed me one right over the heart. She slipped into my arms as quick as she had into my heart, too. I danced the way I felt, and she--well, she was right with me every time: the slickest little stepper I ever saw. Not dance-mad, like those professional kind; she let me set the pace and she followed any lead.

”Reilly came up to us on the floor and offered to introduce us to folks. I asked him if he remembered the time I gave him out west, and he said he could never forget it and he was now aiming to return it best he knew how.

'Take it from me,' I said, 'that I can get right returns from you if you'll not give any other fellow the chance to b.u.t.t in on these dances.'

'I'm on,' he said, and he let us alone.

”We danced every time without talking any. When it came closing time, Reilly came up again and said: 'This is the hour we quit, but it don't mean for my guests. Come back in this little room and have refreshments on me.'

”He showed us into a little ring-around-the-rosy room with lights half off and asks: 'What'll you have?'

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