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Betty Zane by Zane Grey
page 13 of 376 (03%)
wrong with her was a serious matter to them. They were proud of her,
and of her beauty and accomplishments were never tired of talking.
She had the dark hair and eyes so characteristic of the Zanes; the
same oval face and fine features: and added to this was a certain
softness of contour and a sweetness of expression which made her
face bewitching. But, in spite of that demure and innocent face, she
possessed a decided will of her own, and one very apt to be
asserted; she was mischievous; inclined to coquettishness, and more
terrible than all she had a fiery temper which could be aroused with
the most surprising ease.

Colonel Zane was wont to say that his sister's accomplishments were
innumerable. After only a few months on the border she could prepare
the flax and weave a linsey dresscloth with admirable skill.
Sometimes to humor Betty the Colonel's wife would allow her to get
the dinner, and she would do it in a manner that pleased her
brothers, and called forth golden praises from the cook, old Sam's
wife who had been with the family twenty years. Betty sang in the
little church on Sundays; she organized and taught a Sunday school
class; she often beat Colonel Zane and Major McColloch at their
favorite game of checkers, which they had played together since they
were knee high; in fact, Betty did nearly everything well, from
baking pies to painting the birch bark walls of her room. But these
things were insignificant in Colonel Zane's eyes. If the Colonel
were ever guilty of bragging it was about his sister's ability in
those acquirements demanding a true eye, a fleet foot, a strong arm
and a daring spirit. He had told all the people in the settlement,
to many of whom Betty was unknown, that she could ride like an
Indian and shoot with undoubted skill; that she had a generous share
of the Zanes' fleetness of foot, and that she would send a canoe
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