wants to live there. I tell him
I'll go out and try it for a while, and if I find I can stand it, he can
hang out his shingle in that cow-town--what do you call it?"

"Elberon?" suggested Helen.

"Yes--Elberon. Dud says there is a chance for another lawyer there. And he
came back here and entered the offices of Larribee & Polk right away, so
as to get working experience, and be entered at the bar all the sooner.
But say!" exclaimed Jess, "I believe one reason why he is so eager to go
back to the West is because _you_ live there."

"Oh, Miss Stone!"

"Do call me Jess. 'Miss Stone' is so stiff. And you and I are going to be
the very best of friends."

"I really hope so, Jess. But you must call me Helen, too," said the girl
from Sunset Ranch.

Jess leaned out from her saddle, putting the horses so close that the
trappings rubbed, and kissed the Western girl resoundingly on the cheek.

"I just _loved_ you!" said the warm-hearted creature, "when Dud first told
me about you. But now that I see you in the flesh, I love you for your
very own self! I hope you'll love me, too, Helen Morrell--And you won't
mind if I talk a good deal?"

[Illustration: "HERE'S THE VERY NICEST GIRL WHO EVER CAME OUT OF MONTANA."
(Page 246.)]

"Not in the least!" laughed Helen. "And I _do_ love you already. I am so,
so glad that you and Dud both like me," she added, "for my cousins do not
like me at all, and I have been very unhappy since coming to New York."

"Here we are!" cried Jess, without noting closely what her new friend
said. "And there is Dud waiting for us on the porch. Dear old Dud!
Whatever should I have done if you hadn't got him out of that tree-top,
Helen?"

CHAPTER XXIII

MY LADY BOUNTIFUL

That was a wonderful breakfast at the Casino. Not that Helen ever
remembered much about what she ate, although Dud had ordered choice fruit
and heartier food that would have tempted the most jaded appetite instead
of that of a healthy girl who had been riding horseback for two hours and
a half.

But, it was so heartening to be with people at the table who "talked one's
own language." The Stones and Helen chattered like a trio of young crows.
Dud threatened to chloroform his sister so that he and Helen could get in
a word or two during Jess's lapse into unconsciousness; but finally _that_
did not become necessary because of the talkative girl's interest in a
story that Helen related.

They had discussed many other topics