Marion Marlowe on the Prairie, or, A Thrilling Ride Across Kansas — page 4: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

2 MY QUEEN. “Oh, Marion! You are not going to back out, are you?” asked Miss Ellis of the company. , the ingéenue “I’m just dying to know what my fortune is to be. Let me see. I want her to tell me exactly how soon Bert and [ will be married, and if his father is go- ing to give his consent, and if he will always be as lovely as he is just now, and, oh, a lot of other+things that I can only ask her in confidence !”’ Her two friends laughed at her earnest manner, but Bert was negotiating terms with the Kansas “galoot,” did not hear hig sweetheart’s longings. as he called him, so he “Of course, Bert will always be lovely! Why, shouldn’t he be?” said Marion, sweetly. “Bert has the best disposition of any fellow in the world, only I almost think that he is a little fickle. Why, just think, up to a month ago, he declared that he loved no one but me, and now—well, [ might die of a broken heart for all he cares! You have eclipsed me en- tirely, Miss Ellis, and yet I am not jealous.” She was smiling gayly as she spoke, and there was a merry twinkle in her eye, and, as Miss Ellis answered her, she smiled back ten- derly. “He loves you yet, Marion! [ am sure he does,” she said, stoutly ; “only, of course, the love is different from that he feels for me! I expect he looks upon you more as a sister than anything else, and, anyhow, your dispo- sition is too sweet to ever get jealous.” “T don’t know,” replied Marion, with a “IT fancy if I were really in still, I should If a man gives you reason to be jealous of him, it shake of her head, love, I should be very jealous ; , try to be reasonable and argue it out. is pretty certain that he does not love you, and, of course, when you realize that, your self-respect comes to your aid, | should feel pretty badly for awhile, but I think I should conquer it.” “Well, I’m no fortune teller, Marion, but I ‘young lady in the party. predict that no man will ever give you cause for jealousy,” spoke up Alma Allyn, the third “You are the pret- tiest girl in the world, for one thing, and the man who would prefer any one elsé to you would be a fit subject for a dime museum, in my opinion.” “Oh, Alma! What a flatterer you are!” cried Marion. “If I didn’t know that in your love for me you were blind to my faults, I should really get out of patience with some of your compliments.” | “There! antediluvian nags are provided for at last!” called Bert, those prehistoric, as he joined them; “and, what do you think, girls ! ‘I had hard work to make that church He’s as honest as he is tall, and, say, if what he steeple take a quarter for his trouble! tells me is true, you’d better give Madam Zhangara the ‘go by!’ She’s a corker on reading fates—a regular oracle. He says she has X-ray eyes that can see right through you! She can tell what you have done ever since you were born, and what you are go- ing to do in the future, and, at the same time, she can calculate to a fraction how far your dinner has digested! You don’t catch me in the presence of such a witch! I'll go over to the restaurant and order something for my- self, for I’m dead sure you won't be hungry when you.escape from her clutches! If any of you are to murdered she’s sure to tell you!” , ; “Oh, Bert; what a cheerful companion you are,” laughed Marion, gayly. “I don’t be- lieve she is so wonderful; but if she is, it’s al! the better. I shall be very glad indeed to know what is coming! will be forearmed ; it certainly should be.” Perhaps forewarned “T wouldn't miss seeing her for the world, now,” said Alma Allyn. to see over here but stock yards and railroad “There's nothing tracks, so come on, girls! We'll tempt fate and learn the worst! But don’t fool yourself, COMIC HOOKS C6Ol