ought you were going
to be married, Lena," she said teasingly. "Did n't I hear that Nick
Svendsen was rushing you pretty hard?"

Lena looked up with her curiously innocent smile. "He did go with me quite
a while. But his father made a fuss about it and said he would n't give
Nick any land if he married me, so he's going to marry Annie Iverson. I
would n't like to be her; Nick's awful sullen, and he'll take it out on
her. He ain't spoke to his father since he promised."

Frances laughed. "And how do you feel about it?"

"I don't want to marry Nick, or any other man," Lena murmured. "I've seen
a good deal of married life, and I don't care for it. I want to be so I
can help my mother and the children at home, and not have to ask lief of
anybody."

"That's right," said Frances. "And Mrs. Thomas thinks you can learn
dressmaking?"

"Yes, 'm. I've always liked to sew, but I never had much to do with. Mrs.
Thomas makes lovely things for all the town ladies. Did you know Mrs.
Gardener is having a purple velvet made? The velvet came from Omaha. My,
but it's lovely!" Lena sighed softly and stroked her cashmere folds. "Tony
knows I never did like out-of-door work," she added.

Mrs. Harling glanced at her. "I expect you'll learn to sew all right,
Lena, if you'll only keep your head and not go gadding about to dances all
the time and neglect your work, the way some country girls do."

"Yes, 'm. Tiny Soderball is coming to town, too. She's going to work at
the Boys' Home Hotel. She'll see lots of strangers," Lena added wistfully.

"Too many, like enough," said Mrs. Harling. "I don't think a hotel is a
good place for a girl; though I guess Mrs. Gardener keeps an eye on her
waitresses."

Lena's candid eyes, that always looked a little sleepy under their long
lashes, kept straying about the cheerful rooms with naive admiration.
Presently she drew on her cotton gloves. "I guess I must be leaving," she
said irresolutely.

Frances told her to come again, whenever she was lonesome or wanted advice
about anything. Lena replied that she did n't believe she would ever get
lonesome in Black Hawk.

She lingered at the kitchen door and begged Antonia to come and see her
often. "I've got a room of my own at Mrs. Thomas's, with a carpet."

Tony shuffled uneasily in her cloth slippers. "I'll come sometime, but
Mrs. Harling don't like to have me run much," she said evasively.

"You can do what you please when you go out, can't you?" Len