Shoe-Bar Stratton - Chapter 36

Mrs. Archer ¹ sat alone in the ranch ²-house living-room, doing absolutely nothing. As a matter of fact, she had little use for those minor ³ solaces ⁴ of knitting or crocheting ⁵ which soothe ⁶ the waking hours of so many elderly women. More than once, indeed, she had been heard to state with mild emphasis that when she was no longer able to entertain herself with human nature, or, at the worst, with an interesting book, it would be high time to retire into a nunnery, or its modern equivalent., ,Sitting there beside one of the sunny southern windows, her small, faintly wrinkled hands lying reposefully ⁷ in her lap, she made a dainty, attractive picture of age which was yet not old. Her hair was frankly ⁸ gray, but luxuriant and crisply waving. No one would have mistaken the soft, faded pink of her complexion ⁹, well preserved though it was, for that of a young woman. But her eyes, bright, eager, humorous, changing with every mood, were full of the fire of eternal youth., ,Just now there was a thoughtful retrospection in their clear depths. Occasionally she glanced interestedly out of the window, or turned her head questioningly toward the closed door of her niece's bedroom. But for the most part she sat quietly thinking, and the tolerant, humorous curve of her lips showed that her thoughts were far from disagreeable., , ,The outer door opened and Buck ¹⁰ Stratton entered. Pausing for an instant on the threshold, he glanced eagerly about the room, his face falling a little as he walked over to where Mrs. Archer sat., ,She looked up at him for a moment in silence, surveying with frank approval his long length, his wide chest and lean flanks, the clean-cut face which showed such few signs of fatigue ¹¹ or strain. Then her glance grew quizzical., ,The archer's shot was a perfect bull's-eye.射手的那一箭正中靶心 。,He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活
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