Chapter 20

PECULIAR TO NEVADA.

Whether, or not, Lucia was right in accusing Octavia Bassett of being
clever, and thinking a great deal, is a riddle which those who are
interested in her must unravel as they read; but, whether the surmise was
correct or incorrect, it seemed possible that she had thought a little
after the interview. When Barold saw her next, he was struck by a slight
but distinctly definable change he recognized in her dress and coiffure.
Her pretty hair had a rather less "professional" appearance: he had the
pleasure of observing, for the first time, how very white her forehead
was, and how delicate the arch of her eyebrows; her dress had a novel air
of simplicity, and the diamond rings were nowhere to be seen.

"She's better dressed than usual," he said to himself. "And she's always
well dressed,--rather too well dressed, fact is, for a place like this.
This sort of thing is in better form, under the circumstances." It was
so much "better form," and he so far approved of it, that he quite
thawed, and was very amiable and very entertaining indeed.

Octavia was entertaining too. She asked several most interesting
questions.

"Do you think," she inquired, "that it is bad taste to wear diamonds?"

"My mother wears them--occasionally."

"Have you any sisters?"

"No."

"Any cousins--as young as I am?"

"Ya-as."

"Do they wear them?"

"I must admit," he replied, "that they don't. In the first place, you
know, they haven't any; and, in the second, I am under the impression
that Lady Beauchamp--their mamma, you know--wouldn't permit it if they
had."

"Wouldn't permit it!" said Octavia. "I suppose they always do as she
tells them?"

He smiled a little.

"They would be very courageous young women if they didn't," he remarked.

"What would she do if they tried it?" she inquired. "She couldn't beat
them."

"They will never try it," he answered dryly. "And though I have never
seen her beat them, or heard their lamentations under chastisement, I
should not like to say that Lady Beauchamp could not do any thing. She is
a very determined person--for a gentlewoman."

Octavia laughed.

"You are joking," she said.

"Lady Beauchamp is a serious subject for jokes," he responded. "My
cousins think so, at least."

"I wonder if she is as bad as Lady Theobald," Octavia reflected aloud.
"She says I have no right to wear diamonds at all until I am married. But
I don't