Then, taking up her cup and leaning back in her small rocker, she asked:
"How did you get along with the speeches?"
"Not very well," said Merriam. He hesitated in his mind whether to tell her of Crockett's interruption but decided not to. It would take too long--he could not waste the precious minutes so. "I'll have the dickens of a time with them," he added.
"Oh, no, you won't!" she cried, as if shocked at the idea. "You were wonderful this noon. I was so proud of you."
"You had a right to be," said Merriam. "It was because you were there that I could do well." Which was perhaps partially true.
"Why don't you go into it yourself?" asked Mollie June.
"Public life? Perhaps I will. I may go back to the University for a law course and then try to get into politics."
This plan had just occurred to Merriam, but he did not disclose that fact. In uttering one's inspirations to a pretty woman one usually presents them as though they were the fruit of mature consideration.
"That would be fine," said Mollie June without much enthusiasm. "But you'll be at Riceville next year?"
"I suppose so. I'll have to save up a bit more."