Shaking her head, Jack glanced nervously at Jimmie.
"But suppose they don't go well? I shan't even begin to make a speech, John Marshall, until you promise me on your word of honor that you will see Billy Preston and tell him from me that he and my other friends are to say nothing and do nothing, whatever takes place. If there is any difficulty Jimmie and I will quietly come out and climb into our car and start back to the ranch. And if my speech is no better than they usually are, I cannot feel that the audience will be deeply disappointed."
"Very well, I promise," the young man answered.
The frame building where she was to speak, a rough one-story shack, sometimes employed for revivals, was larger than any hall in which Jacqueline Kent had ever attempted talking before.
As she stepped up on the platform she found that her audience was also larger than the ones to which she had tried to grow accustomed in these last few months.
But the people were quietly seated and there appeared no unusual excitement or confusion.
Gratefully Jack observed that the larger number were women. The men were at the back toward the rear of the hall.
There were to be no other speakers during the afternoon, so as soon as she had been introduced Jack began her speech.
From the beginning she was fearful that she was going to interest this audience even less than she believed she interested most audiences. And in her heart of hearts Jack was always puzzled why anyone should be influenced by what she had to say.