't regret my letter?"

"Regret?--well, I should say not! You builded better than you knew.
Getting Grandfather worried was just the right thing, though it sounds
rather heartless to say it. Being worried, he came and saw and--I
conquered!"

"Now I won't have to ask for an explanation of a very rude speech of
yours."

"Was I rude--to you?" Alec looked up hastily.

"It sounded--rather queer, for you to rejoice over my not going back
to Woodford," she answered.

"Meant purely as a compliment," he assured her. "It would be mighty
jolly to have you here, Blue Bonnet."

She rose hurriedly. "Let's not go into that, please. Every time I get
pretty near a decision, some new argument bobs up on the other side.
I'm dreadfully worried, Alec. But, thank goodness, you're off my
mind!"

"I'll try to stay off, Blue Bonnet," he laughed as he followed her
along the narrow path. "If you go back you'll write often, won't you?
I shall depend on you--"

She made a movement of impatience. "I'm not going to cross bridges,
Alec, till I come to them."

"I beg your pardon. I forgot that bridges are a touchy subject with
you!"

They found Uncle Cliff and the General still absorbed in what appeared
to be an interminable conversation. The General rose with
old-fashioned courtesy as Blue Bonnet came up the veranda steps.

"What do you think of your new cowboy?" he asked, laying his hand
affectionately on Alec's shoulder.

"We've just been exchanging opinions with each other," she said, with
a sidelong glance at Alec.

"I'm going to miss the boy," General Trent continued. "The old house
will be very dull and empty,--unless you make up your mind to be
particularly neighborly, Miss Blue Bonnet."

Blue Bonnet colored and looked way. "I--I'll do my best if--"

"Will you walk down to the stable with me, Grandfather?" Alec asked
quickly. "I've not shown you the little coyotes yet."

As the General walked away with his hand still on Alec's shoulder,
Blue Bonnet turned to her uncle.

"Read this, will you please, Uncle? It came to-day."

He took Aunt Lucinda's letter, an odd expression growing around his
mouth. But he opened it without speaking. Blue Bonnet sank into the
hammock and watched him narrowly,--much as Grandmother had watched her
as she read the same pages. She saw his lower teeth close on his
mustache when he came to the significant part.

He lifted his eyes at last. "Well, Honey?"

"Well, Uncle?"

He sighed deeply. "A