nd these were so
wild."

"They were just playing. They wouldn't hurt you; but they did look
fierce."

"Whose cows were they?"

"They're ours. I have to get them up every day. Sometimes when the flies
are bad they get a little mad, but I'm not afraid of them. They know me,
you bet. I can milk the kickiest one of the lot."

"Do you milk the cows?"

"Sure--but what is that?" The rider had caught sight of the picture.
"Did you make that?"

"Yes; I painted it."

"My!" She dismounted, and with arm through bridle, she and the horse
came up for a closer view of the picture. The girl looked at it mutely
for a moment. "It's pretty" she said; "I wish I could make a picture
like that."

Mildred smiled at her. She was such a round, rosy girl, so full of
health and life and color. Not such a little girl either, now a nearer
view was obtained. She was only a year or two younger than Mildred
herself.

"I wish I could do what you can," said the painter of pictures.

"I--what? I can't do anything like that."

"No; but you can ride a horse, and stop runaway cows. You can do a lot
of things that I cannot do because you are stronger than I am. I wish I
had some of that rosy red in your cheeks."

"You can have some of mine," laughed the other, "for I have more than
enough; but you wouldn't like the freckles."

"I wouldn't mind them, I'm sure; but let me thank you for what you did,
and let's get acquainted." Mildred held out her hand, which the other
took somewhat shyly. "Don't you have to go home with your cows?"

"Yes, I guess so."

"Then we'll go back together." She gathered her material and they walked
on up the path, Mildred ahead, for she was timid of the horse which the
other led by the bridle rein. At the bars in the corner of the upper
pasture the horse was turned loose into his own feeding ground, and the
girls went on together.

"You live near here, don't you?" inquired Mildred.

"Yes, just over there."

"Oh, are you Carlia Duke?"

"Yes; how did you know?"

"Dorian has told me about you."

"Has he? We're neighbors; an' you're the girl that's visiting with the
Trent's?"

"Yes."

"Well, I'm glad to meet you. Dorian has told me about you, too."

Thus these two, meeting for the first time, went on chatting together;
and thus Dorian saw them. He had missed Mildred at the lower pasture,
and so, with shovel again on shoulder, he had followed up the homeward
path. The girls were some distance ahead, so he