Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 45: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

DARK OQ’ THE deny that life has bruised and battered you. The baby that’s coming will be a pearl,’ I said. ‘A pearl!’ Well, Sophronia believed me and took heart. And it wasn’t long after that that Bill Sanders was killed in a mine explosion, which was a mighty good thing for his widow—because he was cer- tainly hard boiled. After that Sophronia took a new turn and set out reforming the world. She’s bigoted. She’s ard, honey! Why, she thought up this Daughters of the Desert society—and organized it—and you’ve heard about tiem! ‘The only soft spot in her heart is for that little Sophy. I think she’s ashamed of her mother—but in looks she turned out a pearl—jest as I fore- tell.” “That describes her exactly,” said Lyn- nie. ‘‘ She is so fragile and so exquisite.” ‘‘She’s all of that,” crisply agreed the princess. “‘ And Sophronia’s brought her out here to marry her off. Well, there’s some mighty rich fellers—there’s that young .Archer Mackenzie—” She broke off. “Bless Pat! Ain’t that him a-comin’?” Sitting on the steps in the starlight they watched the princess as she picked her bulky way homeward through the sharp stones and greasewood of Magnolia Avenue. The music from Slim’s Hall came to them muffied. The warm air carried strange, pungent odors of desert herbage, and stirred the ends of the thin lace scarf Lynnie wore around her shoulders. The starlight shone on her burnished hair. “She is fine and dear,’ Lynnie said as the princess passed out of sight. “You are fine and dear,” said Archer gravely, ‘ to discover it.” ‘How did you happen to come, Archer? How did you get away from the party?” ‘“T came to sit out three dances with you.” He pointed to his card on which her initials were scribbled. ‘* See—here they are—three in a row!” “T think that’s a perfectly noble act! But I’ve never sat out a dance with a young man before. Tell me—what does one do?” “ According to one school of thought, conversation is considered good. That is, if it’s educational and uplifting—” MOON. 835 She laughed at this. ‘ Well, let’s con- verse! How shall we begin?” “ Questions and answers is my way. It’s less complex. Like this: ‘ How do you like our camp, Miss Brooke? How do you like us?” ‘“ Very much,” she answered in the same spirit. “I like one-third of my next door neighbors. And Persephone. And _ the mountains. And Uncle Gummy Teel. (Archer, what do you suppose Uncle Gum- my brought me yesterday? A rattlesnake hat band!) And I love the stars! I don’t care very much for the night winds, nor the chuckwallas, nor the kangaroo rats, nor Sophy Sanders’s mother—”’ “Oh, Lord—” groaned Archer. here—” “Mrs. Sanders came to see me to-day.” Lynnie’s lightness had left her. Her eyes were troubled. ‘“‘ She stayed a long time. Archer, tell me—what is this ‘ Daughters of the Desert ’ society?” ‘“ Lynnie, as far as I can make it out, it seems to be a sort of mixture of the old- fashioned Ladies’ Aid with a dash of secret fraternal orders and a sprinkling of the Vigilantes—” “But what do they do?” “They investigate everything that hap- pens—and pass upon it. They are the judges, juries, and executioners! They are the Fates and Furies returned to earth! I tell you, Lynnie, women are a darned sight more cruel than men.” “But didn’t men start this Vigilante idea?” ‘They did, my child. But it was to mete out justice to men. To avenge good, healthy, honest crimes. But, see here, what did Mrs. Sanders say about the Daughters of the Desert? And what did she want?” ‘“ Knowledge, I reckon.”” Lynnie laughed a little ruefully. “I never saw any one with such a thirst for it. After she left I felt like a drained teapot—I felt like a squeezed orange—I felt like the last page in the catechism—” “Don’t gallop around for any more metaphors—I know just how you felt. She leaves me with the same feelin’s! But what did she say about the Daughters?” ‘Tt wasn’t so much what she said—” COMME NOOKS. EO ** Same