Arizona -- Fiction; Grand Canyon (Ariz.) -- Fiction; Western stories
"I'll try not to," Diana answered meekly, as Enoch followed her into
the carriage.
They smiled at each other, and Enoch went on, "Of course, I've been
feeling rather proud of the opportunity to display myself before
Washington with you. I've been called indifferent to women. I'm
hoping now that the gossips will say, 'Aha! Huntingdon's a deep one!
No wonder he's been indifferent to the average woman!'"
Diana eyed him calmly. "That doesn't sound at all like Washington
Monument," she murmured.
"More like Charley Abbott, I suppose!" retorted Enoch.
"No," answered Diana thoughtfully, "hardly like Mr. Abbott's method. I
would say that he belonged to a different school from you."
"Yes? What school does Abbott represent?"
"Well, he has a dash, an ease, that shows long and varied experience.
Charley Abbott is a finished ladies' man. It almost discourages me
when I contemplate the serried ranks of women that must have
contributed to his perfect finesse."
"Discourages you?" queried Enoch.
Diana did not answer. "But," she went on, "while Charley is a graduate
of the school of experience and you--"
She paused.
"Yes, and I--," pressed Enoch.
"I won't impose on your condescension by telling you," said Diana.
"Pshaw!" muttered the Secretary of the Interior.
Suddenly Diana laughed. Enoch, after a moment, laughed with her, and
they entered the White House grounds still chuckling.
The President did not keep them waiting. "I may not be able to order
my wife and daughter about," he said, as he shook hands with Enoch,
"but I certainly have my official family well under control. Did you
see the pictures, Huntingdon?"
"I saw and was conquered, Mr. President," replied Enoch.
"What would you say, Miss Allen, if I tell you that I had to force this
fellow into going to see your wonderful pictures?" the President asked.
"It wouldn't surprise me," replied Diana, in an enigmatical voice that
made both men smile.
"I see you understand our Secretary of the Interior," the President
said complacently. "Sit down, children, and Miss Allen, talk to me.
How long did it take you to make that collection of photographs?"
"I began that particular collection ten years ago. Those pictures have
been sifted out of nearly two thousand prints."
"Did you take any other pictures during that period?" asked the
President.
"Oh, yes! I was, I think, fourteen or fifteen when I first determined
to give my life to Indian photography. I didn't at that time think of
making a living out of it. I had a dream of making a photographic
history of the spiritual life of some of the South-western tribes. It
didn't occur to me that anything but a museum or possibly a library
would care for such a collection. But to my surprise there was a ready
market for really good prints of Indians and Indian subjects. So while
I have kept always at work on my ultimate idea, I've made and sold
many, many pictures of Indians on all sorts of themes."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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