He told her about betting, while she listened, wide-eyed with amazement at the mention of the sums involved.
"How've they kept him single?"
"He's been in love with my Aunt Alathea for a good many years, but she won't marry him until he keeps his promise to avoid the race-tracks."
"What makes your aunt hate hawsses?"
"Oh, she loves good horses, but the Colonel always bets, and, as I have said, it keeps him poor. It's the gambling that she hates, and not the horses. Every year he plans to keep away from all horse-racing for her sake; every year he tries to do it, but quite fails."
She laughed heartily. "An' she thinks he loves th' races more than he does her?" she asked. Then, more soberly: "I don't know's I blame her, none. When's she comin'? I'll be powerful glad to see her."
"I don't know just when she's coming, but she's promised me to have the Colonel bring her up here. I want to have her see the beauty of the mountains."
"I'll like him, sure, whether I like her or not."
He was astonished. "But you said you would be sure to love her!"
"Uh-huh; but I'd be surer to like anyone who is as fond of hawsses as you say he is. Why, when I ride—"