“You are adorable. Already see the havoc you’ve wrought among the unmarried men. Observe how many times each finds an errand that takes him by this cabin door. How slow they are to scout the woods and seek signs. No; you can’t help your looks, and it results there are few men who can resist loving you. There’s not a youngster in this settlement who’s not up to his neck in love with you already. And there’s not one of them who does not realize that you would be the poorest mate he could pick so long as he must live on the border.”
“I’m glad to hear just what you believe about me,” she muttered. “But you’re bewildering. It seems I’m a rare prize for any man and a most uncomfortable burden.”
“Oh, dash it all, Patsy! You understand that what I’ve said applies to Howard’s Creek. If we were standing two hundred miles due east I should say directly the opposite.”
Of course she understood my true meaning, and of course in her heart she agreed with it. She was town-bred and therefore was intended for the town. Yet so strangely stubborn and eccentric is a woman’s reasoning that she can feel resentment toward a man because he has brains enough to comprehend the same simple truth that she comprehends.
Had there been no danger from the Indians I could have scored a bull’s-eye with her by baldly declaring her to be the most valuable asset the frontier ever had received; and she would have dimpled and smiled and but faintly demurred, knowing I was a rock-ribbed liar for asserting it, and yet liking me the more for the ridiculous exaggeration. That is one reason why it is more sensible and much more satisfactory to quarrel with a man than a woman.
With the tenacity which her sex displays when believing a male is trying to avoid some issue, she coldly reminded:
“Talk, talk, but not a word yet as to what my father did two nights ago.”
“It was one of the most splendid exhibitions of faith and moral courage I ever witnessed.”
Her gaze grew kindly again and she halted and stared up into my eyes, flushed with pleasure, and waited to hear more encomiums.
“I never before saw one man rush out and confront a war-party. Then his going out alone last night and prowling about through the dark forest! That was magnificent. Your father is one of the bravest men I ever saw.”