Chapter 56
She'll never amount to anything if she keeps on making namby-pamby
gods and pet kittens,' answered irreverent Dan, remembering that when
he was last here Bess was vibrating distractedly between a head of
Apollo and her Persian cat as models.
'Thank you; I'll try it, and if I fail we can put the buffalo up in
the hall to remind us of you,' said Bess, indignant at the insult
offered the gods of her idolatry, but too well bred to show it except
in her voice, which was as sweet and as cold as ice-cream.
'I suppose you won't come out to see our new settlement when the rest
do? Too rough for you?' asked Dan, trying to assume the deferential
air all the boys used when addressing their Princess.
'I am going to Rome to study for years. All the beauty and art of the
world is there, and a lifetime isn't long enough to enjoy it,'
answered Bess.
'Rome is a mouldy old tomb compared to the "Garden of the gods" and
my magnificent Rockies. I don't care a hang for art; nature is as
much as I can stand, and I guess I could show you things that would
knock your old masters higher than kites. Better come, and while
Josie rides the horses you can model 'em. If a drove of a hundred or
so of wild ones can't show you beauty, I'll give up,' cried Dan,
waxing enthusiastic over the wild grace and vigour which he could
enjoy but had no power to describe.
'I'll come some day with papa, and see if they are better than the
horses of St Mark and those on Capitol Hill. Please don't abuse my
gods, and I will try to like yours,' said Bess, beginning to think
the West might be worth seeing, though no Raphael or Angelo had yet
appeared there.
'That's a bargain! I do think people ought to see their own country
before they go scooting off to foreign parts, as if the new world
wasn't worth discovering,' began Dan, ready to bury the hatchet.
'It has some advantages, but not all. The women of England can vote,
and we can't. I'm ashamed of America that she isn't ahead in all good
things,' cried Nan, who held advanced views on all reforms, and was