Free The Jeweled Spur by Gilbert Morris Page B

“Didn’t I tell you? If you’d listen to me more, you’d know more!”
    Laurie laughed, and suddenly threw her arms around the small ex-trooper, which almost shocked him out of his wits. Drawing back with a red face, he sputtered, “I’ll be havin’ a word with your father about this loose sort of manner you’ve picked up!” he threatened. Then to cover his emotion—for he was a lonely man—he said, “Now, can you ride this horse? I’ll be giving you some special lessons. I’ll not have one of the Fifth fallin’ off her horse!”

    He rambled on, but Laurie knew that whatever else came to her from this new life, she’d found two men she could trust!
    ****
    At the evening meal, after a rather hectic first day of classes, Maxine noted that Laurie had hardly eaten anything. When her new roommate excused herself and left the dining room, Maxine waited for five minutes, then rose and rushed upstairs to the room the two shared. When she pushed the door open and stepped inside, she saw Laurie lying across the bed, her face buried in a pillow. Maxine’s first impulse was to go sit down and try to console the girl, but she wisely chose another course. “What’s the matter?” she demanded.
    Laurie hastily got up and tried to say cheerfully, “Oh, nothing, Maxine. Just too excited, I guess. My first day at Wilson College and all. Guess it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be.”
    Maxine stared at the tense lines of Laurie’s pale face, noting the stiff lips and the false smile. “Liar,” she remarked conversationally. “You look like you’ve been run over by a farm wagon.” She moved to the huge walnut dresser the two girls shared, opened the bottom drawer, and fumbling around under the twisted nest of underwear, came up with a small cloth bag. Slamming the drawer shut, she produced a small rectangle of thin paper from inside the bag, then after deftly rolling it into a half-tunnel, she opened the bag and filled it with amber-colored tobacco. Expertly she licked the edge of the paper, finished rolling the paper into a tube, then twisted the ends. Taking it between her lips, she drew a match from her pocket, raked it across the top of the vanity and lit the cigarette. After drawing deeply, she expelled the blue smoke with satisfaction, then looked at Laurie and said, “You’ve been looking like a poisoned pup all day.”
    Laurie had watched with alarm as Maxine lit the cigarette. “Isn’t that against the rules?” she asked cautiously.
    “Sure it is.” Maxine removed the cigarette from betweenher lips, rounded them, and blew a perfect smoke ring. It moved slowly through the still air, and she smiled, saying, “Takes a lot of practice to do that, kid.” Then she waved the cigarette toward Laurie and said, “Listen to Mama and you’ll learn something.” She spoke in a mocking tone, but there was kindness in her eyes as she leaned back against the wall and began to lecture. “You found out that you’re way behind some of the students here in the books, and that made you fold up. And you found out that Agnes Sipes is a pain, which everybody else already knew!”
    At the mention of the Latin teacher’s name, Laurie flushed. It had been one of the most humiliating moments of her life when the thin woman had exposed how little she knew, and she’d determined never to set foot in that class again!
    “She’s jealous of you, that’s why she cut you to ribbons before the class.” Maxine nodded when Laurie stared at her with doubt in her eyes. “Fact. She’s scrawny and homely as a barn door, and not likely to get a husband. She hates all the pretty girls—and she’ll do worse than she did today when she sees Barton Sturgis take after you.”
    “Barton Sturgis!” exclaimed Laurie.
    “Yeah, Aggie Sipes swoons over him. I don’t know why, but she does.” Maxine took another draw on her cigarette, then nodded thoughtfully. “He gave her a little ride, I think, then dropped her. But she’d