"Grey, Zane - Betty Zane" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grey Zane)

herself; she had strange dreams; she cried seemingly without the slightest
cause and she was restless and unhappy. Finally she grew angry and scolded
herself. She said she was silly and sentimental. This had the effect of making
her bolder, but it did not quiet her unrest. Betty did not know that the
little blind God, who steals unawares on his victim, had marked her for his
own, and that all this sweet perplexity was the unconscious awakening of the
heart.

One afternoon, near the end of Betty's siege indoors, two of her friends,
Lydia Boggs and Alice Reynolds, called to see her.

Alice had bright blue eyes, and her nut brown hair hung in rebellious curls
around her demure and pretty face. An adorable dimple lay hidden in her rosy
cheek and flashed into light with her smiles.

"Betty, you are a lazy thing!" exclaimed Lydia. "Lying here all day long doing
nothing but gaze out of the window."

"Girls, I am glad you came over," said Betty. "I am blue. Perhaps you will
cheer me up."

"Betty needs some one of the sterner sex to cheer her," said Alice,
mischievously, her eyes twinkling. "Don't you think so, Lydia?"

"Of course," answered Lydia. "When I get blue--"

"Please spare me," interrupted Betty, holding up her hands in protest. "I have
not a single doubt that your masculine remedies are sufficient for all your
ills. Girls who have lost their interest in the old pleasures, who spend their
spare time in making linen and quilts, and who have sunk their very
personalities in a great big tyrant of a man, are not liable to get blue. They
are afraid he may see a tear or a frown. But thank goodness, I have not yet
reached that stage."

"Oh, Betty Zane! Just you wait! Wait!" exclaimed Lydia, shaking her finger at
Betty. "Your turn is coming. When it does do not expect any mercy from us, for
you shalt never get it."

"Unfortunately, you and Alice have monopolized the attentions of the only two
eligible young men at the fort," said Betty, with a laugh.

"Nonsense there plenty of young men all eager for our favor, you little
coquette," answered Lydia. "Harry Martin, Will Metzer, Captain Swearengen, of
Short Creek, and others too numerous to count. Look at Lew Wetzel and Billy
Bennet."

"Lew cares for nothing except hunting Indians and Billy's only a boy," said
Betty.

"Well, have it your own way," said Lydia. "Only this, I know Billy adores you,