"
If he still believed in her coquetry and vanity, he would have been
undeceived and crushed by the equal and sincere frankness with which she
met this ungallant speech.
"No! I reckon he wouldn't care, if you'd be as comf'ble and fit for
to-morrow. But ye WOULDN'T," she said reflectively. "The boys thar
sit up late over euchre, and swear a heap, and Simpson, who'd sleep
alongside of ye, snores pow'ful, I've heard. Aunty Stanton kin do her
level at that, too, and they say"--with a laugh--"that I kin, too, but
you're away off in that corner, and it won't reach you. So, takin' it
all, by the large, you'd better stay whar ye are. We wimmen, that is,
the most of us, will be off and away down to Rattlesnake Bar shoppin'
afore sun up, so ye'll sleep ez long ez ye want to, and find yer
breakfast ready when ye wake. So I'll jest set to and get ye some
supper, and ye kin tell me all the doin's in Sacramento and 'Frisco
while I'm workin'."
In spite of her unconscious rebuff to his own vanity, Hemmingway felt a
sense of relief and less constraint in his relations to this decidedly
provincial hostess.
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