"The boys gin'rally kem to take up enough wood for me to begin with,"
she said, "but I reckon they didn't know I was comin' up so soon."
Hemmingway's distrust returned a little at this obvious suggestion that
he was only a substitute for their general gallantry, but he smiled and
said somewhat bluntly, "I don't suppose you lack for admirers here."
The girl, however, took him literally. "Lordy, no! Me and Mamie Robinson
are the only girls for fifteen miles along the creek. ADMIRIN'! I call
it jest PESTERIN' sometimes! I reckon I'll hev to keep a dog!"
Hemmingway shivered. Yes, she was not only conscious, but spoilt
already. He pictured to himself the uncouth gallantries of the
settlement, the provincial badinage, the feeble rivalries of the young
men whom he had seen at the general store. Undoubtedly this was what she
was expecting in HIM!
"Well," she said, turning from the fire she had kindled, "while I'm
settin' the table, tell me what's a-doin' in Sacramento! I reckon you've
got heaps of lady friends thar,--I'm told there's lots of fashions just
from the States.
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