When she did speak it was with her gaze fixed upon the couple ahead.
"Yes, that's it," she said. "Hang on. Hang on with every ounce of courage and strength you've got. And if you've got to go under, why, I guess it's best done with a smile, eh?" Quite abruptly she indicated the woman in front. "I do think she's real beautiful, don't you?"
"Who?" The man had no concern for anybody at that moment but the girl at his side.
"Who? Say, aren't you just foolish. I was thinking of Mrs. Van
Blooren."
The man laughed.
"I surely am," he declared. "And I've won prizes for thought-reading at parlor games, too."
They both laughed. Then Nan went on with a persistence which was quite lost upon the thought-reader.
"Who is she? Mrs. Van Blooren?" she demanded.
"Why, you met her, sure?" Then the man added with some significance:
"She's riding with Jeff Masters."
"Oh, yes. I've met her. I met her last night, and I've seen her many times before." Then she added with a shadow of coldness in her manner: "But she doesn't belong to the cattle folk."