the Light Of Western Stars (1992) (7 page)

Madeline smiled at her brother's amusement, but she did not reply
.
She simply could not adjust herself to these queer free Western' ways
.
Her brother had eloquently pleaded for her to keep herself above a sordid and brilliant marriage, yet he not only allowed a cowboy to keep her picture in his room, but actually spoke of her and used her name in a temperance lecture
.
Madeline just escaped feeling disgust
.
She was saved from this, however, by nothing less than her brother's naive gladness that through subtle suggestion Stewart had been persuaded to be good for a month
.
Something made up of Stewart's effrontery to her; of Florence Kingsley meeting her, frankly as it were, as an equal; of the elder sister's slow, quiet, easy acceptance of this visitor who had been honored at the courts of royalty; of that faint hint of scorn in Alfred's voice, and his amused statement in regard to her picture and the name Majesty-something made up of all these stung Madeline Hammond's pride, alienated her for an instant, and then stimulated her intelligence, excited her interest, and made her resolve to learn a little about this incomprehensible West
.

"Majesty, I must run down to the siding," he said, consulting his watch
.
"We're loading a shipment of cattle
.
I'll be back by supper-time and bring Stillwell with me
.
You'll like him
.
Give me the check for your trunk
.
"

She went into the little bedroom and, taking up her bag, she got out a number of checks
.

"Six!Six trunks!" he exclaimed
.
"Well, I'm very glad you intend to stay awhile
.
Say, Majesty, it will take me as long to realize who you really are as it'll take to break you of being a tenderfoot
.
I hope you packed a riding-suit
.
If not you'll have to wear trousers!You'll have to do that, anyway, when we go up in the mountains
.
"

"No!"

"You sure will, as Florence says
.
"

"We shall see about that
.
I don't know what's in the trunks
.
I never pack anything
.
My dear brother, what do I have maids for?"

"How did it come that you didn't travel with a maid?"

"I wanted to be alone
.
But don't you worry
.
I shall be able to look after myself
.
I dare say it will be good for me
.
"

She went to the gate with him
.

"What a shaggy, dusty horse!He's wild, too
.
Do you let him stand that way without being haltered?I should think he would run off
.
"

"Tenderfoot!You'll be great fun, Majesty, especially for the cowboys
.
"

"Oh, will I?" she asked, constrainedly
.

"Yes, and in three days they will be fighting one another over you
.
That's going to worry me
.
Cowboys fall in love with a plain woman, an ugly woman, any woman, so long as she's young
.
And you!Good Lord!They'll go out of their heads
.
"

"You are pleased to he facetious, Alfred
.
I think I have had quite enough of cowboys, and I haven't been here twenty-four hours
.
"

"Don't think too much of first impressions
.
That was my mistake when I arrived here
.
Good-by
.
I'll go now
.
Better rest awhile
.
You look tired
.
"

The horse started as Alfred put his foot in the stirrup and was running when the rider slipped his leg over the saddle
.
Madeline watched him in admiration
.
He seemed to be loosely fitted to the saddle, moving with the horse
.

"I suppose that's a cowboy's style
.
It pleases me," she said
.
"How different from the seat of Eastern riders!"

Then Madeline sat upon the porch and fell to interested observation of her surrounding
.
Near at hand it was decidedly not prepossessing
.
The street was deep in dust, and the cool wind whipped up little puffs
.
The houses along this street were all low, square, flat-roofed structures made of some kind of red cement
.
It occurred to her suddenly that this building-material must be the adobe she had read about
.
There was no person in sight
.
The long street appeared to have no end, though the line of houses did not extend far
.
Once she heard a horse trotting at some distance, and several times the ringing of a locomotive bell
.
Where were the mountains, wondered Madeline
.
Soon low over the house-roofs she saw a dim, dark-blue, rugged outline
.
It seemed to charm her eyes and fix her gaze
.
She knew the Adirondacks, she bad seen the Alps from the summit of Mont Blanc, and had stood under the great black, white-tipped shadow of the Himalayas
.
But they had not drawn her as these remote Rockies
.
This dim horizon line boldly cutting the blue sky fascinated her
.
Florence Kingsley's expression "beckoning mountains" returned to Madeline
.
She could not see or feel so much as that
.
Her impression was rather that these mountains were aloof, unattainable, that if approached they would recede or vanish like the desert mirage
.

Madeline went to her room, intending to rest awhile, and she fell asleep
.
She was aroused by Florence's knock and call
.

"Miss Hammond, your brother has come back with Stillwell
.
"

"Why, how I have slept!" exclaimed Madeline
.
"It's nearly six o'clock
.
"

"I'm sure glad
.
You were tired
.
And the air here makes strangers sleepy
.
Come, we want you to meet old Bill
.
He calls himself the last of the cattlemen
.
He has lived in Texas and here all his life
.
"

Madeline accompanied Florence to the porch
.
Her brother, who was sitting near the door, jumped up and said:

"Hello, Majesty!"And as he put his arm around her he turned toward a massive man whose broad, craggy face began to ripple and wrinkle
.
"I want to introduce my friend Stillwell to you
.
Bill, this is my sister, the sister I've so often told you about- Majesty
.
"

"Wal, wal, Al, this 's the proudest meetin' of my life," replied Stillwell, in a booming voice
.
He extended a huge hand
.
"Miss- Miss Majesty, sight of you is as welcome as the rain an' the flowers to an old desert cattleman
.
"

Madeline greeted him, and it was all she could do to repress a cry at the way he crunched her baud in a grasp of iron
.
He was old, white-haired, weather-beaten, with long furrows down his checks and with gray eyes almost hidden in wrinkles
.
If he was smiling she fancied it a most extraordinary smile
.
The next instant she realized that it had been a smile, for his face appeared to stop rippling, the light died, and suddenly it was like rudely chiseled stone
.
The quality of hardness she had seen in Stewart was immeasurably intensified in this old man's face
.

"Miss Majesty, it's plumb humiliatin' to all of us thet we wasn't on hand to meet you," Stillwell said
.
"Me an' Al stepped into the P
.
O
.
an' said a few mild an' cheerful things
.
Them messages ought to hev been sent out to the ranch
.
I'm sure afraid it was a bit unpleasant fer you last night at the station
.
"

"I was rather anxious at first and perhaps frightened," replied Madeline
.

"Wal, I'm some glad to tell you thet there's no man in these parts except your brother thet I'd as lief hev met you as Gene Stewart
.
"