"Come,Mr.Jeff,"said the triumphant goddess,in her first voice,"tell me something about yourself.How do you live here--I mean;what do you do?You ride,of course--and very well too,I can tell you!But you know that.And of course that scarf and the silver spurs and the whole dashing equipage are not intended entirely for yourself.No!Some young woman is made happy by that exhibition,of course.Well,then,there's the riding down to see her,and perhaps the riding out with her,and--what else?""Miss Mayfield,"said Jeff,suddenly rising above his elbow and his grammar,"thar isn't no young woman!Thar isn't another soul except yourself that I've laid eyes on,or cared to see since I've been yer.
Ef my aunt hez been telling ye that--she's--she--she--she--she--lies."
Absolute,undiluted truth,even of a complimentary nature,is confounding to most women.Miss Mayfield was no exception to her sex.She first laughed,as she felt she ought to,and properly might with any other man than Jeff;then she got frightened,and said hurriedly,"No,no!you misunderstand me.Your aunt has said nothing."And then she stopped with a pink spot on her cheek-bones.
First blood for Jeff!
Now this would never do;it was worse than the butterflies!She rose to her full height--four feet eleven and a half--and drew her cloak over her shoulders."I think I will return to the house,"she said quietly;"I suppose I ought not to overtask my strength.""You'd better let me go with you,miss,"said Jeff submissively.
"I will,on one condition,"she said,recovering her archness,with a little venom in it,I fear."You were going home,too,when I called to you.Now,I do not intend to let you leave that bag behind that tree,and then have to come back for it,just because you feel obliged to go with me.Bring it with you on one arm,and I'll take the other,or else--I'll go alone.Don't be alarmed,"she added softly;"I'm stronger than I was the first night I came,when you carried me and all my worldly goods besides."She turned upon him her subtle magnetic eyes,and looked at him as she had the first night they met.Jeff turned away bewildered,but presently appeared again with the bag on his shoulder,and her wrap on his arm.As she slipped her little hand over his sleeve,he began,apologetically and nervously "When I said that about Aunt Sally,miss,I"--The hand immediately became limp,the grasp conventional.
"I was mad,miss,"Jeff blundered on,"and I don't see how you believed it--knowing everything ez you do.""How knowing everything as I do?"asked Miss Mayfield coldly.
"Why,about the quail,and about the bag!"
"Oh,"said Miss Mayfield.
Five minutes later,Yuba Bill nearly ditched his coach in his utter amazement at an apparently simple spectacle--a tall,good-looking young fellow,in a red shirt and high boots,carrying a bag on his back,and beside him,hanging confidentially on his arm,a small,slight,pretty girl in a red cloak."Nothing mean about her,eh,Bill?"said as admiring box-passenger."Young couple,I reckon,just out from the States.""No!"roared Bill.
"Oh,well,his sweetheart,I reckon?"suggested the box-passenger.
"Nary time!"growled Bill."Look yer!I know 'em both,and they knows me.Did ye notiss she never drops his arm when she sees the stage comin',but kinder trapes along jist the same?Had they been courtin',she'd hev dropped his arm like pizen,and walked on t'other side the road."Nevertheless,for some occult reason,Bill was evidently out of humor;and for the next few miles exhorted the impenitent Blue Grass horse with considerable fervor.
Meanwhile this pair,outwardly the picture of pastoral conjugality,slowly descended the hill.In that brief time,failing to get at any further facts regarding Jeff's life,or perhaps reading the story quite plainly,Miss Mayfield had twittered prettily about herself.
She painted her tropic life in the Sandwich Islands--her delicious "laziness,"as she called it;"for,you know,"she added,"although I had the excuse of being an invalid,and of living in the laziest climate in the world,and of having money,I think,Mr.Jeff,that I'm naturally lazy.Perhaps if I lived here long enough,and got well again,I might do something,but I don't think I could ever be like your aunt.And there she is now,Mr.Jeff,making signs for you to hasten.No,don't mind me,but run on ahead;else I shall have her blaming me for demoralizing you too.Go;I insist upon it!
I can walk the rest of the way alone.Will you go?You won't?Then I shall stop here and not stir another step forward until you do."She stopped,half jestingly,half earnestly,in the middle of the road,and emphasized her determination with a nod of her head--an action that,however,shook her hat first rakishly over one eye,and then on the ground.At which Jeff laughed,picked it up,presented it to her,and then ran off to the house.