She
wanted to laugh and chatter about she knew not what. She wanted to--
But here certain external happenings cruelly grabbed her attention.
Old Ben, who had seemed to slow down obligingly upon the girls'
greeting of Raymond, had refused to heed Tess's tugging effort to
bring him to a standstill. To be sure, he moved more slowly, but
move he did, and determinedly; till--merciful heaven!--he came to a
dead and purposeful halt in front of the saloon. Not "a saloon," but
"the saloon!"
Now, more frantically than she had urged him to pause, Tess implored
Ben to proceed. No local standards are so hide-bound as those of a
small town, and in Cherryvale it was not deemed decently
permissible, but disgraceful, to have aught to do with liquor. "The
saloon" was far from a "respectable" place even for men to visit;
and for two girls to drive up openly--brazenly--
"Get up, Ben! Get up!" rang an anguished duet.
Missy reached over and helped wallop the rains. Oh, this pain!--this
faintness! She now comprehended the feeling which had so often
overcome the fair ladies of England when enmeshed in some frightful
situation.
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