"I don't know about that. How many proposals have you had?"
"Only seven so far. Johnny Parr, Michael Dilling, and Pete Robbins want
to come to Oregon just as soon as their enlistments are up. Albert
Johnson asked me to go to Baltimore with him, after we're married of
course! His father has a store there, and I can be a clerk in it. Rodney
Burr, he's from Maine and he talks so strangely, has wonderful plans for
starting a shipyard in San Francisco. Robert Smith and Dan Jankoski want
to get married right here."
"What did you tell them?"
"Mother, what _would_ I tell them? I don't want to marry any of them."
"I hope you didn't hurt their feelings."
"I refused as nicely as I could."
Emma looked down at the table, gratified. Barbara was no longer the
half-child half-woman who had left Missouri. The Oregon Trail had given
her a new maturity and poise. Barbara finished her meal and folded her
hands thoughtfully under her chin. She stared across the table and for a
moment she did not speak. Then,
"Mother, there's a dance tonight in the mess hall. May I go?"
"Do you mean you can single out just one escort?"
"Hugo asked me," she said dreamily. "He--he's so different. I--I just
can't explain it. He simply makes the others seem like children. His
home is in New York City, and it will take me at least a year to tell
you all the things he's told me about it."