“Then I will!” he said.
That night he wrote a friendly, but impersonal letter to Marjorie, ignoring their silence. But in spite of the fact that he knew Jack had told about the dance, he never mentioned Dorothy Snyder’s name, or alluded to her in any way.
CHAPTER XII.
THE PACK TRIP.
Before Marjorie had time to carry out her resolution to write to John Hadley, the mail came in, bringing her Jack’s letter.
“And guess whom I met at a dance at Cape May?” he wrote. “John Hadley! With the prettiest little girl you ever saw! He didn’t notice me at first, he seemed so absorbed in her.
“I kidded him about not grieving much, and you ought to have seen him blush. Just the same I’m glad he has pluck enough to find somebody else, for you don’t always give him a square deal. Not only about the vacation, but your senior dance, and a lot of little things. It would serve you right if you lost him. You can play with a serious chap like him once too often!”
“Play with him!” repeated Marjorie, to herself. Did it seem to others that that was what she had been doing? She had never intended to do so. A sudden wave of loneliness spread over her; she felt that if she lost John’s regard, she would be deprived of one of her truest friends. She hoped Jack had attached more importance to the simple episode than it deserved; and yet John had stopped writing to her. Was he so much interested in this new girl that he had forgotten all about her?
If that were the case, she decided she would not think any more about him. She was having a wonderful time on the ranch, living this out-door life and learning to be a more accomplished horsewoman. What more could any girl want?
And so she abandoned her idea of writing to John and gave her whole-hearted attention to the life she was living. To her great joy, a pack trip had been planned for the following day, a pack trip that would last five whole days, and take them up into the mountains. At last the scouts were to have a taste of real Western out-door life; they would ride all day long, make camp in the afternoon, and sleep under the stars at night.