a desultory
Navajo rug on a chair: these humble objects constituted the nearest
approach to "art" that the establishment could boast. The distinctive
feature of the little shop was the show-case at the rear, filled with
books of pressed wildflowers; these, at least, were the chief source of
income in the business, and therefore Marietta spent every odd
half-hour in the manufacture of them. A visitor, when he entered, was
apt to suppose that the shop was empty; for the black, curly head bent
over the work at the window behind the back counter was not immediately
discernible. It was a fascinating head, as the most unimpressionable
visitor could not fail to observe when the tall figure rose from behind
the counter,--fascinating by reason of the beautiful hair, escaping in
soft tendrils from the confining knot; fascinating still more by reason
of the perfect grace of poise. The face was somewhat sallow and very
thin; care and privation had left their marks upon it. The mouth was
finely modelled, shrewd and humorous; but it was the eyes, dark, and
darkly fringed as those of a wood-nymph, that dominated the face; one
had a feeling that here was where the soul looked out. To hear Marietta
speak, however, was something of a disenchantment; her tone was so very
matter-of-fact, her words so startlingly to the point. If the soul
looked out at the eyes, the lips at least had little to say of it.

The visitor, if a stranger, had an excellent opportunity of making his
observations on these points, for Marietta usually remained standing,
in a skeptical attitude, behind the distant counter until he had shown
signs of "business" intentions. She was very ready to stand up and rest
her back, but she had no idea of coming forward to indulge an aimless
curiosity as to the origin and price of her art treasures. An old
customer, on the other hand, was treated with an easy good-fellowship so
marked that only those who liked "that sort of thing" ever became old
customers.

"Well, how's everything?" was the usual form of greeting, as the tall
willowy figure passed round behind the counters and came opposite the
new-comer.

"Did your folks like the frame?" would come next, if the customer
chanced to have had a frame sent home recently. Marietta was agent for a
Denver art firm, which framed pictures at a "reasonable figure"; or
rather, Jim was the agent, and Jim being Marietta's husband, and too
sick a man of late to conduct his business, did n