“I thought you cared for Mr. Coles,” she said.
“I do,” was my reply.
“Well,” she said, “as far as I am concerned, you can have him.”
“Kate,” I said coldly, “I see now that your friendship for me was merely a pose. But let me tell you that you will pose no longer. From now on you will do me a favor by not speaking to me. Henceforth you and myself are as strangers.”
“I am sorry you feel that way, girlie,” was her reply, “but you must suit yourself.”
I left her then, and found my seat in the train. While I was sitting there Mr. Coles came up.
“Well, Miss Emerson,” he said, “I guess I will have to admit defeat. But she is a fine girl, and Garrett is a lucky dog. I suppose the best thing I can do is congratulate him and try and forget it.”
“You may do whatever you choose, I am sure,” I replied coldly.
Mr. Garrett stopped at the table where I was eating in the dining-car to ask me if I wanted to go straight home from Ogden.
“Where is the rest of the party going?” I inquired.
“Most of them are going to Salt Lake, and start east from there tomorrow afternoon,” was his reply. “Kate is going to Salt Lake, and so are Lester and Coles.”
“All right, then,” I said coldly. “I will go straight home from Ogden. I guess I know when I am not wanted.”
It seems like Mr. Garrett and Kate were proud of what they had done, for they spread the news all over the train. One of the two old maids heard it at supper and came rushing up to me.
“I hear we have a romance,” she said.
“We,” I said. “I guess there is no danger of you ever having one.”
“You either,” she said.
“That is none of your business,” was my reply, “and the best thing you can do is keep your mouth shut.”
After that she let me alone, the old fossil.
Mr. Lester just came through the car and saw me sitting here writing.
“Are you writing the Yellowstone Romance?” he asked.
“It is none of your business what I am writing, Mr. Lester,” I replied.
“What do you think of them?” he continued. “Who would of thought she would of got both of them on her staff and you be overlooked? Some people have funny taste. I would of bet my pile on you. In fact, I would fall in love with you myself, only I have a wife and family in Kenosha.”
“You are welcome to them and they are welcome to you,” was my reply, and he walked away.
I have told the darkey to be sure and see that I get off at Ogden in the morning. I believe I would die if I had to spend another day in the company of those who have betrayed me. I believe I am going to die, anyway. I hope so, for what is there to live for, diary?
Sunday, September 3: The conductor told me this morning that there is not going to be any railroad strike, after all, as President Wilson has fixed everything up, so I suppose that my dear “friends” will keep on with their trip and take in Colorado Springs and Denver, etc. They can do it as far as I am concerned. I will not stop them. I will be in Chi tomorrow morning, and how good it will seem after all I have gone through.
I still have a week left of my vacation and I think I will stay at home and read. I will not let anyone know I am home, unless it is one or two of my girl chums. I do not want to ever see a man of the opposite sex again as long as I live.
It has been a lonesome trip from Ogden, and I am glad it is nearly over, though I am not shedding any tears over making the trip alone. I had much rather be alone than in the company of those who I started out with. I suppose by this time Mr. Coles has found some other girl to try and flirt with, and I hope for his sake he has found a girl who will fall for him because she has been shut up all her life and never saw another man. That is about the only kind of a girl who he could make a hit with. As for Mr. Garrett and Kate, I wish them happiness, and they ought to be happy together, because they are two of a kind, and, thank heavens, I am not one of their kind.
When I was getting off the train at Ogden yesterday morning, poor Kate saw me and climbed out of her bed in her kimona to say “goodbye” to me. I wish Mr. Garrett and Mr. Coles could of seen her the way she looked, and Mr. Coles would of thanked heavens for his escape.
“You are not getting off here, are you, girlie?” she said.
“I certainly am,” was my reply.
“But the rest of us are going through to Salt Lake,” she said.
“I should worry where the rest of you are going,” I said.
“Girlie,” she said, “please do not bear any grudge against me and break up our friendship.”
“I guess you know, Kate, who has broken up our friendship,” I replied coldly.
“If you will just tell me what I have done, I will try and make it right,” she said.
“Kate,” I said, “there is no use of you pretending. You know what you have done, and you did it with your eyes open.”
“You mean me getting engaged to Mr. Garrett?” she said. “Remember, girlie, there is always some man somewhere foolish enough to fall for a girl as ugly as I. You pretty girls cannot expect to get all the men.”
“If you think I wanted Mr. Garrett or Mr. Coles, either one, you are much mistaken,” I replied coldly.
“Then what is the trouble?” she asked.
“I
