"The fellows said I'd have to slick up a bit if I was a-comin' to
see you, so as not to make you ashamed of me. Do you like 'em?"
he asked, looking down approvingly at his new brown clothes.
"Very much." For the first time Jim noticed the unfamiliar
manner of her speech. He began to feel self-conscious. A year
ago she would have said, "You bet!" He looked at her awkwardly.
She hurried on: "Hasty told me you were showing in Wakefield. I
knew you'd come to see me. How's Barker and all the boys?" She
stopped with a catch in her throat, and added more slowly: "I
suppose everything's different, now that Toby is gone."
"He'd a-liked to a-seen you afore he cashed in," Jim answered;
"but maybe it was just as well he didn't. You'd hardly a-knowed
him toward the last, he got so thin an' peeked like. He wasn't
the same after we lost you, nobody was, not even Bingo."
"Have you still got Bingo?" she asked, through her tears.
"Yep, we got him," drawled Jim, "but he ain't much good no more.
None of the other riders can get used to his gait like you was.
There ain't nobody with the show what can touch you ridin', there
never will be. Say, mebbe you think Barker won't let out a yell
when he sees yer comin' back." Jim was jubilant now, and he let
out a little yell of his own at the mere thought of her return.
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