In fact, it is almost impossible to say that anybody is
impertinent where you are all so absolutely on an equality."
Now all this was interesting enough, no doubt, but what I wanted to hear
about was something more startling. I could not really give up all at
once the idea of an adventure in the West, so I said, "But didn't
anything wonderful happen to you, Mrs. Boyd?"
"No, I can't say there did," replied the lady, slightly surprised, I
could see, by my question.
Then, rallying my geography with an effort, I asked, "Weren't you
carried off by the Indians, or swept away by a flood?"
"No, I was many hundred miles away from the Indian Reservation, and did
not see a single Red man," replied Mrs. Boyd; "and as for floods--well,
my dear, I could tell you the ridiculous straits we were put to for want
of water, but I can't even imagine a flood on those parched and dried-up
plains."
[Sidenote: An Adventure]
"Well," said I, in an aggrieved voice, "I think you might have come back
with at least one adventure after being away for three months."
"An adventure!" exclaimed Mrs. Boyd, in astonishment, and then a flash
of recollection passed over her countenance, and she continued, "Oh,
yes, I did have one; I had an adventure with an highwayman."
"Oh!" cried all the ladies, in a delighted chorus.
"See there, now!" said Miss Bascombe, as if appropriating to herself the
credit of the impending narrative.
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