And so it was that Bonnie Belle, as he had called her, after a daughter who had died years before, became the postmistress, stage-agent, landlady of the Frying Pan Hotel and of the Devil’s Den.
What had brought the young girl to Pocket City no one knew; but Landlord Lazarus had not been in his grave a day before the rough element discovered that the mistress of the Frying Pan intended to be the master there.
She made the hotel a success, would have no cheating in her gambling-saloon, sold only the best of liquors, stood no nonsense from any of the men, and was treated with marked respect.
She was a beautiful creature, too, with a mass of red-gold hair, large, lustrous black eyes, full of a dreamy sadness, perfect features, and a form of exquisite grace.
She was wont to dress neatly about the hotel and in attending to her other duties there, and when out for a ride on one of her spirited horses wore a buckskin habit and gold-embroidered sombrero.
Kind to all, with charity for men’s failings and sins, and generosity toward all in suffering and distress, Bonnie Belle had won the hearts of all the miners, as well as their admiration and respect.
Not the most hardened villain in the camp would have dared say aught to cast a slur upon Bonnie Belle if he valued his life, for he would have been seized and made an example of very quickly.
Many a poor, sick miner had been sent to his home by her, and she was ever ready to lend aid and do an act of mercy. If a man was hungry and had no money, he got food at the Frying Pan freely. If a miner was sick, some delicacy was sent him from Bonnie Belle’s table.
It was not a wonder, then, that some grateful miner had called her the Beautiful Samaritan.
What had brought her to the wild West, unless to do good, no one could understand, and men wondered and marveled over and over the strange fact of such a refined being seeking a home amid such rude surroundings.