Waifs and Strays
by O. Henry
Contents
THE RED ROSES OF TONIA
A trestle burned down on the International Railroad. The south-bound from SanAntonio was cut off for the next forty-eight hours. On that train was ToniaWeaver’s Easter hat.
Espirition, the Mexican, who had been sent forty miles in a buckboard from theEspinosa Ranch to fetch it, returned with a shrugging shoulder and hands emptyexcept for a cigarette. At the small station, Nopal, he had learned of thedelayed train and, having no commands to wait, turned his ponies toward theranch again.
Now, if one supposes that Easter, the Goddess of Spring, cares any more for theafter-church parade on Fifth Avenue than she does for her loyal outfit ofsubjects that assemble at the meeting-house at Cactus, Tex., a mistake has beenmade. The wives and daughters of the ranchmen of the Frio country put forthEaster blossoms of new hats and gowns as faithfully as is done anywhere, andthe Southwest is, for one day, a mingling of prickly pear, Paris, and paradise.And now it was Good Friday, and Tonia Weaver’s Easter hat blushed unseenin the desert air of an impotent express car, beyond the burned trestle. OnSaturday noon the Rogers girls, from the Shoestring Ranch, and Ella Reeves,from the Anchor-O, and Mrs. Bennet and Ida, from Green Valley, would convene atthe Espinosa and pick up Tonia. With their Easter hats and frocks carefullywrapped and bundled against the dust, the fair aggregation would then merrilyjog the ten miles to Cactus, where on the morrow they would array themselves,subjugate man, do homage to Easter, and cause jealous agitation among thelilies of the field.
Tonia sat on the steps of the Espinosa ranch house flicking gloomily with aquirt at a tuft of curly mesquite. She displayed a frown and a contumeliouslip, and endeavored to radiate an aura of disagreeableness and tragedy.
“I hate railroads,” she announced positively. “And men. Menpretend to run them. Can you give any excuse why a trestle should burn? IdaBennet’s hat is to be trimmed with violets. I shall not go one steptoward Cactus without a new hat. If I were a man I would get one.”
Two men listened uneasily to this disparagement of their kind. One was WellsPearson, foreman of the Mucho Calor cattle ranch. The other was ThompsonBurrows, the prosperous sheepman from the Quintana Valley. Both thought ToniaWeaver adorable, especially when she railed at railroads and menaced men.Either would have given up his epidermis to make for her an Easter hat morecheerfully than the ostrich gives up his tip or the aigrette lays down itslife. Neithe