Corral Nocturne Read Online Free PDF Page A

delight to her, though; the newness had not worn
off the pleasure of visiting and mixing with people and talking to
them. As for Cole, he had all but forgotten his original reasons
for inviting Ellie to go with him, he enjoyed their drives together
so much for their own sake.
    On one or two particularly fine afternoons,
they had driven out further than usual, where the road crested
gently swelling hills that marked the outskirts of Newcomb range.
From the tops of these rises one could see miles of shimmering
windblown prairie, sweeping up again into further hills that met a
seemingly endless blue sky; with scattered herds of cattle dotting
the valleys between.
    One afternoon Cole stopped the buggy at the
top of the hill for a moment. He leaned forward with his elbows
resting on his knees, looking at the landscape without speaking.
The horses, by some curious chance, stood quietly, the restless
breeze sweeping past them from side to side and ruffling their
manes and tails. Ellie looked silently at the view herself for a
moment, and then stole a sideways glance at Cole. His eyes were
fixed on something in the distance, but a faint smile that bespoke
some deep satisfaction hovered on his lips. Then after a minute he
drew a deep breath.
    “Maybe it’s just because I was born here,” he
said, “but there’s nothing like it in the world for me. I couldn’t
live anywhere else.”
    “Even though you’ve seen so much of the
country—back East, I mean?” said Ellie, curiously.
    Cole nodded. “Even then. Oh, I enjoyed it, no
doubt about that. And I’m not really tied down—Dad likes to send me
in his place on business trips now, because he hates traveling.
Chicago, St. Louis—once or twice a year. But I’m always ready to
come home.”
    Ellie laughed, a bit breathlessly. “The way
you can say that! Chicago—St. Louis. As if all you had to do was
snap your fingers and you’d be there.”
    “Well, it’s not much harder nowadays. Step on
a train here, step off there.” He turned and looked at Ellie. “What
do you think? Would you like the city if you had a chance to see
it?”
    “Well—I’d like to visit one, that’s for
sure,” said Ellie. “Just to see what it was like—and for the
excitement of it. But I think I’m like you—I wouldn’t want to live
anywhere else but here. I—I love it here.”
    Cole nearly said, “Even with your brother
making your life miserable?” but luckily checked himself just in
time.
    He looked at her again, given the opportunity
as she gazed out ahead of the buggy once more. The thought flitted
idly through his mind of what it might be like to show her the
bright lights and clamor of a big city, and see the wonder come
into her clear gray eyes and the color into her cheeks. He had come
to take an unusual pleasure, during those few weeks, in seeing
Ellie introduced to things that brought such expressions to her
face.
    They were never short of things to talk about
on these drives. Ellie listened with great interest as Cole told
her of his experiences at college and life on the ranch. He knew
how to listen, as well, and seemed genuinely interested in what she
said; and Ellie often found herself talking more than she had done
since she was a little girl, and sharing her ideas in a way she
seldom had a chance to do with anyone—for her mother, dearly as
Ellie loved her, had often been too busy or too tired to listen to
the crowds of thoughts spinning through Ellie’s young mind, and her
daughter had instinctively spared her.
    Cole used to look at her sideways sometimes,
in a kind of surprised marveling at how unexpectedly pretty and
clever she was. Ellie had never traveled far from home, and her
reading had been limited to what books she could put her hands on,
but she had a quick mind and a perceptive nature, and there was
never any constraint between them on account of the different lives
they led. Cole was, after all, the son of a self-made man, and
education and affluence had