eaving in two weeks, the girls said."

"Oh, they did." Blue Bonnet was thoughtful for a moment, then burst
out--"Carita, what would you do, if you were in my place,--about going
back East again?"

"What would I do?" Carita repeated wonderingly. "Why, Blue Bonnet, do
you mean that you're not sure about going?"

"I do mean--just that. The girls have taken it for granted all along
that I was going back with them, but somehow I can't make up my mind.
Every day the ranch grows dearer. And being shut up in a stuffy
schoolroom, and having to get up and go to bed by the clock, and
having a place for everything and everything in its place--Carita, it
goes against the grain!"

Carita gave a comical little sigh. "It's queer how things seem to
be--cut on the bias, isn't it? Now to go to school, and see and know
lots of people, and have libraries and hear music--why, I seem
sometimes to _ache_ for it all."

"It's a pity you're not Aunt Lucinda's niece. You'd do her credit. Now
the only person I seem to suit through and through, is Uncle Cliff.
He's been father and mother both to me, and I think that I owe him
something in return. I can't bear to leave him all alone again."

"I know. I should feel just that way about Mother. She needs me, but,
if we could afford it, she'd be the first to send me away to school.
If I could get enough education to teach, I could help her more in the
end."

"I reckon it's the end that makes everything endurable. It was the
thought of getting back to the ranch that got me through last year.
But I haven't let myself think what the end of this summer would
bring. Every day on the ranch is complete in itself."

"But think how it will seem after this--when the girls are all gone,
and your grandmother--"

"It's Grandmother who counts more than any one, except Uncle Cliff. I
reckon I'll just have to be blindfolded and then choose!"

"There come Knight and Alec," said Carita. "I shouldn't wonder if
they'd been having the same sort of a conversation. They'd like to
change places with each other. Knight is wild to go East to college,
and Alec would give anything for--"

"Knight's health and strength,--I know," Blue Bonnet interrupted.
"It's another case of the mixed-upness of things. I'm disappointed in
Alec."

Carita opened her eyes wide. "Disappointed? Why, I should think you,
of all people, feeling as you do, would sympathize with him."

"I do sympathize with him, and always have. That's why I