“Thank you, sir.”
For a moment she paused to restore it to its company; and I grasped the occasion.
“I beg your pardon. You are going to Benton, of Wyoming Territory?”
Her eyes met mine so completely as well-nigh to daze me with their glory. There was a quizzical uplift in her frank, arch smile.
“I am, sir. To Benton City, of Wyoming Territory.”
“You are acquainted there?” I ventured.
“Yes, sir. I am acquainted there. And you are from Benton?”
“Oh, no,” I assured. “I am from New York State.” As if anybody might not have known. 15 “But I have just purchased my ticket to Benton, and——” I stammered, “I have made bold to wonder if you would not have the goodness to tell me something of the place—as to accommodations, and all that. You don’t by any chance happen to live there, do you?”
“And why not, sir, may I ask?” she challenged.
I floundered before her query direct, and her bewildering eyes and lips—all tantalizing.