She had a charming faculty of injecting the personal note into her questions, and before he was aware of it Wray found himself well launched in a description of his country—the mountains, the plains, the cowboys.
She had never heard of cowboys. What were they? Little cows?
Jeff caught a warning look from Camilla across the table, which softened his laughter. He explained, and the Baroness joined in the merriment. Then he told her that he had been for years a cowpuncher down in Arizona and New Mexico before he went into business, described the "round-up," the grub wagon, and told her of a brush with some Yaqui Indians who were on the warpath. When he began, the other people stopped talking and listened. Jeff was in his element and without embarrassment finished his story amid plaudits. Camilla, listening timidly, was forced to admit that his domination of the table was complete. The conversation became general, a thing which rarely happened at the Bent dinners, and Jeff discovered himself the centre of attention. Almost unconsciously he found himself addressing most of his remarks to a lady opposite, who had listened and questioned with an unusual show of interest.
When the ices were passed he turned to Mrs. Rumsen and questioned.
"Haven't you met her?" And then, across the table, "Rita—you haven't met Mr. Wray—Mrs. Cheyne."
CHAPTER VI
MRS. CHEYNE
Over the coffee, curiously enough, there seemed to be a disposition to refrain from market quotations, for General Bent skilfully directed the conversation into other channels—motoring—aviation—the Horse Show—the newest pictures in the Metropolitan—and Jeff listened avidly, newly alive to the interests of these people, who, as Mrs. Rumsen had said, above Twenty-third Street took on a personality which was not to be confounded with the life downtown, where he had first met them. When Curtis Janney asked him if he rode, Jeff only laughed.
"Oh, yes, of course you do. One doesn't punch cattle for nothing. But jumping is different—and then there's the saddle——"
"Oh, I think I can stay on without going for the leather. Anyway, I'd like to try."