ever had to look for a place.

The Vannis' tent brought the town boys and the country girls together on
neutral ground. Sylvester Lovett, who was cashier in his father's bank,
always found his way to the tent on Saturday night. He took all the
dances Lena Lingard would give him, and even grew bold enough to walk
home with her. If his sisters or their friends happened to be among the
onlookers on 'popular nights,' Sylvester stood back in the shadow
under the cottonwood trees, smoking and watching Lena with a harassed
expression. Several times I stumbled upon him there in the dark, and I
felt rather sorry for him. He reminded me of Ole Benson, who used to
sit on the drawside and watch Lena herd her cattle. Later in the summer,
when Lena went home for a week to visit her mother, I heard from Antonia
that young Lovett drove all the way out there to see her, and took her
buggy-riding. In my ingenuousness I hoped that Sylvester would marry
Lena, and thus give all the country girls a better position in the town.

Sylvester dallied about Lena until he began to make mistakes in his
work; had to stay at the bank until after dark to make his books
balance. He was daft about her, and everyone knew it. To escape from his
predicament he ran away with a widow six years older than himself, who
owned a half-section. This remedy worked, apparently. He never looked at
Lena again, nor lifted his eyes as he ceremoniously tipped his hat when
he happened to meet her on the sidewalk.

So that was what they were like, I thought, these white-handed,
high-collared clerks and bookkeepers! I used to glare at young Lovett
from a distance and only wished I had some way of showing my contempt
for him.

X

IT WAS AT THE Vannis' tent that Antonia was discovered. Hitherto she
had been looked upon more as a ward of the Harlings than as one of the
'hired girls.' She had lived in their house and yard and garden; her
thoughts never seemed to stray outside that little kingdom. But after
the tent came to town she began to go about with Tiny and Lena and their
friends. The Vannis often said that Antonia was the best dancer of them
all. I sometimes heard murmurs in the crowd outside the pavilion that
Mrs. Harling would soon have her hands full with that girl. The young
men began to joke with each other about 'the Harlings' Tony' as they did
about 'the Marshalls' Anna' or 'the Gardeners' Tiny.'

Antonia talked and thought of nothing but the tent. She