THE TALE OF BRAZOS DICK
And then a countess tackled me, and I didn't know who she was. So I says, "Are you a duchess, or a yearl, or what, ma'am?' and she let on she was a countess. All you've got to know in tackling folks like this is to know how to name them, and your trouble's over. 'Tain't like it is in Texas, where 'ma'am' will serve the lot, from the President's wife down to the poorest. But I reckon now to know who's who in these aristocratic gangs, and the girls was very pleasant, and some of them daisies to look at. I got mighty popular, for there warn't no one I warn't friends with, and the men was pleased to hear about Texas. They evidently pined for Texas. I noted that all through. It's common talk to run down Englishmen in Texas, boys, but 'Texas' is all in their minds; they hanker to be free and ride our perairies . They envy us the gay life we lead, and I see this even while I pined for things they hed. And there was one Lady Caroline Cheviot that I commenced to pine for heavily, and she took to me some, and we sot by each other at dinner, and she helped me out with my difficulties with the hash,—for there
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