“Were you in the theater to-night?” asked the girl at the desk, seeing that he was temporarily aware of her again.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She was puzzled by his appearance and the fashion of his speech. He must be a gentleman, she thought, for his bearing was gentle and assured and unself-conscious, but he wore his clothes differently and spoke differently from other gentlemen. That “Yes, ma’am,” especially disturbed her. Then she remembered a novel she had read and her mind jumped to a conclusion. She leaned forward.
“Say, aren’t you from the West?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You weren’t ever a cowboy, were you?”
Pierre smiled. “Yes, ma’am. I was raised in a cow-camp. I was a cowboy till about seven years ago when I took to ranchin’.”
“Where was that?”
“Out in Wyoming.”
“And you’ve come straight from there to New York?” She pronounced it “Noo Yoik.”