“There, there!” cried Dud. “Hold on a bit, Jess, and let’s hear how Miss Morrell is—and what she is doing here in the big city, and all that.”
“Well, I declare, Dud! You take the words right out of my mouth,” said his sister, warmly. “I was just going to ask her that. And we’re going to the Casino for breakfast, Miss Morrell, and you must come with us. You’ve had your ride; haven’t you?”
“I—I’m just returning,” admitted Helen, rather breathless, if Jess was not.
“Come on, then!” cried the good-natured but talkative city girl. “Come, Dud, you ride ahead and engage a table and order something nice. I’m as ravenous as a wolf. Dear me, Miss Morrell, if you have been riding long you must be quite famished, too!”
“I had coffee and rolls early,” said Helen, as Dud spurred his horse away.
“Oh, what’s coffee and rolls? Nothing at all—nothing at all! After I’ve been jounced around on this saddle for an hour I feel as though I never had eaten. I don’t care much for riding myself, but Dud is crazy for it, and I come to keep him company. You must ride with us, Miss Morrell. How long are you going to stay in town? And to think of your having saved Dud’s life—Well! he’ll never get over talking about it.”
“He makes too much of the incident,” declared Helen, determined to get in a word. “I only lent him a rope and he saved himself.”
“No. You carried him on your pony to that ranch. Oh, I know it all by heart. He talks about it to everybody. Dud is so enthusiastic about the West. He is crazy to go back again—he wants to live there. I tell him I’ll go out and try it for a while, and if I find I can stand it, he can hang out his shingle in that cow-town—what do you call it?”
“Elberon?” suggested Helen.
“Yes—Elberon. Dud says there is a chance for another lawyer there. And he came back here and entered the offices of Larribee & Polk right away, so as to get working experience, and be entered at the bar all the sooner. But say!” exclaimed Jess, “I believe one reason why he is so eager to go back to the West is because you live there.”