What sense is there in your objection, if Jim and Laddy stick up
for him?"
"But, Tom--he'll fall in love with Nell!" protested Mrs. Belding.
"Well, wouldn't that be regular? Doesn't every man who comes
along fall in love with Nell? Hasn't it always happened? When
she was a schoolgirl in Kansas didn't it happen? Didn't she have
a hundred moon-eyed ninnies after her in Texas? I've had some
peace out here in the desert, except when a Greaser or a prospector
or a Yaqui would come along. Then same old story--in love with Nell!"
"But, Tom, Nell might fall in love with this young man!" exclaimed
the wife, in distress.
"Laddy, Jim, didn't I tell you?" cried Belding. "I knew she'd say
that....My dear wife, I would be simply overcome with joy if Nell
did fall in love once. Real good and hard! She's wilder than any
antelope out there on the desert. Nell's nearly twenty now, and
so far as we know she's never cared a rap for any fellow. And
she's just as gay and full of the devil as she was at fourteen.
Nell's as good and lovable as she is pretty, but I'm afraid she'll
never grow into a woman while we live out in this lonely land.
And you've always hated towns where there was a chance for
the girl--just because you were afraid she'd fall in love. You've
always been strange, even silly, about that. I've done my best
for Nell--loved her as if she were my own daughter. I've changed
many business plans to suit your whims. There are rough times
ahead, maybe.
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