I went over to tell her about it. First, I thought I'd put on the clo'es
I expected to wear to Chicago, a dandy fifteen dollar suit I got in
town. An' then I saw how foolish this would be, an' brushed up my range
clo'es, tied a new silk scarf in my soft roll collar, an' went. Here's
my diagram of the hook-up: Any o' them mortar-board-hat, black-nightie
fellers she had pitchers of, could probably afford fifteen dollar
clay-worsteds; but it was a good gamblin' proposition that none of 'em
could come in at the gate like a personally-conducted cyclone, bring up
a-stannin' from a dead run to a dead stop's if they'd struck a stone
wall, go clear from the bronk as he fetched up an' light like a centaur
before her, with their sombrero in their hand. Don't light, you say?
Wal, I mean as a centaur would light if he took a notion. You'd better
take a hike down to see how the steed's gettin' along, Bill, 'r else
subside about this Greek myth biz. It helps on with this story--not!
The p'int is, that gals and fellers both like variety. To me, the "y" in
her name, the floss in her hair, the kind of quivery lowness in her
voice, the rustle of her dresses as she walked, the way she looked like
the pitchers in the magazines an' talked like the stories in 'em, all
corroborated to throw the hooks into me. An' I s'pose the
nater's-nobleman gag went likewise with her. Subsekent happenin's--but I
must hold that back.
We sot in the hammock that night--the only time Aconite Driscoll ever
was right up against the real thing in ladies' goods--an' she read me a
piece about a Count Gibson a-shooting his lady-love's slanderers so full
o' holes at a turnament that they wouldn't hold hazel-brush. They was
one verse she hesitated over, an' skipped.
I ast her if she thought she--as a supposed case--could live out in this
dried-up-an'-blowed-away country; an' she said the matter had really
never been placed before her in any such a way as to call for a decision
on her part. Purty smooth, that! Then she read another piece that wound
up with "Love is best!" from the same book, an' forgot to take her hand
away when I sneaked up on it, an'--Gosh! talk about happiness: we never
git anything o' quite that kind out here! I never knowed how I got to
the train, 'r anything else ontil we was a-crossin' the Mississippi at
North McGregor. Here the caff question ag'in unveiled its heejus front,
to be mulled over till I reached the cowman's harbor in Chicago, the
Exchange Building at the Yards, an' found Jim Elkins' instructions
awaitin' me. They read:
"DEAR ACONITE:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account