CHAPTER IX
Curiously Jeanette slept peacefully all night, untroubled by dreams. She was tired out and glad the race was over. More than she had imagined, her mind and heart had been set upon the one thought for weeks.
Moreover, she felt sure of what must soon take place.
For her father's sake, for all their sakes, her stepmother had not the courage to proclaim aloud what she had done, won by a dishonorable action. Now in the midst of the family she would feel no such hesitation.
One question puzzled Jeanette. Would her stepmother speak first to her father or to her? If to her father, doubtless he would insist that she return the prize awarded her.
The following morning at breakfast no one talked at any length of the day before.
Jeanette appreciated that her stepmother avoided looking directly at her, or else she kept her own lids down whenever the possibility arose.
Lina congratulated her a second time. Via showed the same grave, worried air which her face had revealed the previous day.
Her younger sister's almost uncanny perception of what the people she cared for were thinking and feeling, Jeanette had admired in the past. At present she resented so psychic a temperament.
Her father was not at the breakfast table, having eaten earlier and departed for Laramie.
Once during the long, tiresome meal Jeanette forgot her own uncomfortable position.
Lina leaned forward and said unexpectedly:
"Jack, don't you think father has something upon his mind at present that is troubling him a good deal? I thought he was worrying for fear you or Jeanette might be hurt in the riding contest. Last night when we returned I handed him a telegram which was here waiting for him and he appeared more troubled than ever. Is he in some business difficulty?
"Hope you don't mind my calling you Jack. Under the circumstances we still find it hard to say 'mother.' You know we always heard you spoken of as 'Jack' by Aunt Jean, Aunt Olive, Aunt Frieda and father."
A more cheerful expression appeared upon Mrs. Colter's face as if she too were for the moment relieved from an idea that troubled her.
"Oh, of course I prefer to be called 'Jack'," she returned, "absurd as the name may now seem for me. I have been called Jack always by the people who had any affection for me. Of course you girls must realize it is not your respect I long for but your friendship. Naturally you do not wish to use the most beautiful title in the world for any one save your own mother. Still, do please call me something or other. It has been pretty hard not to have any name. I wonder if you realize how often you wait to catch my eye before speaking to me at all!"
The girls laughed.
With an unusual burst of affection Eda flung her arms about her.
"May I, too, say Jack? I'm not really so much younger than the others."
Jack held her close, graver than a moment before.
"I have not answered your first question, Lina. Yes, your father is worried over some business matters. But I am sure things will adjust themselves and there is no reason so far to trouble you."
An hour Jeanette waited alone in her own room expecting a tap on the door and the interview she was trying to prepare herself for.
She did not sit down. After making her bed she wandered about her room, idly fingering her possessions.
On the mantel stood a framed photograph of her mother, who had been governess to the original group of Ranch Girls years ago.
Jeanette stared at the picture an instant and then turned hastily away.
At the end of the hour she went downstairs, passing her stepmother in the hall, but they said no word to each other.
An impulse seized Jeanette. She would confess and ask pardon and advice. If she had offended against any one else in the world at this moment she would have done both. But in these last two months her original resentment against her father's marriage had grown into a prejudice she was unable to resist.
A short time after Jeanette saddled her own pony, not the one of yesterday, and started on a ride.
Via's suggestion that she accompany her had hastily been refused.
To-day Jeanette found less pleasure than usual in her solitary ride.
A little more than a mile from the house she dismounted and sat down by a tree near the road.
Five minutes later Cecil Perry came riding along the same road, approaching the Rainbow Ranch.
From a short distance off Jeanette watched him with a sensation of surprised admiration.
How greatly he had altered since his arrival in the West! She recalled their first meeting and his spoiled, childish manner. He had scarcely known how to keep his seat in the saddle at that time. At present he rode with a fair amount of ease and self-assurance. His skin had reddened, the lines of his face showed firmer.
He was galloping by without observing her when Jeanette, with a sudden irresistible desire for companionship, called out to him.
"Cecil, are you on the way to our house? Won't you stop and speak to me for a moment?"
Jeanette was lying stretched out on a bed of soft prairie grass; beyond her the ground billowed and swam in a sea of green.
Indifferent to the lateness of the hour, a Western lark soared overhead, now and then uttering its peculiar sweet, wild note.
As Cecil drew near Jeanette sat upright.
He held the reins of his horse in one hand and looked as if he were reluctant to answer her summons.
"You need not remain long with me, Cecil, unless you wish. Youwereon your way to see us?"
Cecil nodded.
Jeanette had the sensation that he was avoiding looking at her.
This had been true of her stepmother earlier in the day.
"Yes, I was on my way to your house," Cecil returned. "I want to ask all of you to spend an afternoon with me at Mr. Stevens'. We have been neglecting our club of the 'Silver Arrow' in the excitement over the riding contest. You remember the idea originated with you. At the end of the summer the arrow is to be awarded to the one of us who has accomplished the most courageous deed."
Jeanette was aware that as he spoke her companion was regarding her oddly.
She obeyed an impulse.
"Why have you never congratulated me upon winning yesterday, Cecil? Don't you think it required some courage on my part to enter a contest with older and better riders?"
Cecil did not immediately reply. His lids dropped first, not the girl's.
She now was sitting bolt upright, her blue-gray eyes dark and defiant, the color hot in her cheeks.
Had Cecil alone among the spectators observed her unsportsmanlike behavior of the day before, or had her stepmother taken Cecil into her confidence? This last idea appeared unlikely. They had not seen each other alone, and to do Jeanette justice she did not believe her stepmother would speak first to Cecil.
In any case she had about concluded to attempt to brave out the situation and if Cecil made an accusation against her to deny whatever he inferred. Never would she appear as a penitent before Cecil Perry.
"Don't congratulate me unless you like. I realize you wished my stepmother to win," she continued with an obvious attempt at lightness. "She gave up the effort to win at the last, else I would not have been successful."
"I shall be glad to come to your meeting of the Club of the Silver Arrow, although I do not expect to be here when the Arrow is bestowed upon one of us." Suddenly Jeanette reached this conclusion.
"I told you I intended to go to boarding school next fall, but only this morning I decided to ask father to allow me to leave very soon. There must be lots of places where I could stay for a short time, before school opens. I suppose I shall feel as out of place in the East as you when you arrived out here."
Jeanette's manner had never been more friendly. She looked attractive, too, with her color, her eyes darker than usual, her chin rounder and more appealing.
Notwithstanding, Cecil turned away.
"Oh, I guess not, Jeanette. You are not such a baby as I was to start with. If you will excuse me I will go on to the ranch. I want to see Lina and Mrs. Colter. They have asked me to lunch. Will you come along now?"
The girl shook her head. Her lips trembled slightly, but her companion did not observe this.
"No, I shall probably not be back before dinner. Please mention the fact if any one inquires for me. I presume no one will. I am the outsider in the family now, even Via is no longer faithful and prefers some one else. Good-by."
An instant Cecil Perry suffered an impulse to turn back and speak frankly to Jeanette.
He then changed his mind and went on his way.