CHAPTER IV
AT THE EATING HOUSE
Doubleday drove the two women down from the ranch. At the Junction there were, besides the railroad eating house, a few houses and a few stores, and almost as many saloons as at Sleepy Cat itself—the place being, Belle said, a shipping point both for cattle and for miners.
Kate was relieved to find her father's cottage, on a hill across the railroad track, quite livable-looking. It was, like all the other houses, one story and square, being divided into kitchen, dining-room and two bedrooms. The interior, its shiny furniture covered with dust, was dreary enough, but Kate knew she could make the place presentable, and after the first few days in her new surroundings, began to recover her high spirits. Her father had not yet said she was to stay; but she thought he liked her—Belle told her as much—and she set about making her woman's hand felt. Her father took his meals at the eating-house, and the cottage had been indifferently cared for by old Henry, the eating-house porter. Kate, as a housekeeper, was a marked improvement, one that even so absorbed a man as her father could not but notice.
She naturally spent much time at the eating-house herself, because Belle, her sole acquaintance at the Junction, was there.
"How you going to like it out here?" demanded Belle, scrutinizing Kate critically, after she had known her a few months.
"I love it," was the prompt answer.
Belle seemed dismayed: "How about the alkali?" she asked, as if to convict Kate of deceit.
Kate only nodded: "It's all right."