u; but if it isn't, it
is only fair to tell you that you won't be able to stop me if she is
willing, and I hope she is. So I am merely telling you, and not asking,
because that ain't my style; when I have made good I will do my asking
to Mary V. And I hope you will not think I have got my gall, because I
am very grateful for all you have done for me and your family also. I
will write when I have made some deal to turn the plane so I can send
you whatever it brings.

Yours truly,

John Ivan Jewel.

Old Sudden did not say anything when he had read that letter--read it
twice, to be exact. He folded it carefully and gave it to his wife to
read, and sat smoothing down his face with his hand while she studied it,
reading slowly, sometimes going back to get the full meaning out of a
somewhat involved sentence.

"Johnny's a dear boy," she observed meditatively, after they had sat for
a little while in silence. "I hope he doesn't enlist in that terrible
war; it's so dangerous!"

Sudden turned in his chair and looked in through a window to where Mary V
was sitting very quietly within three feet of the telephone, her album of
"Desert Glimpses" in her lap. Undoubtedly Mary V was listening, but she
was also undoubtedly waiting for something. He looked at his wife, and
his wife also glanced into the room and caught the significance of Mary
V's position and attitude.

The telephone rang, and Mary V dropped the album in her haste to answer
the call. She glanced out at them while she announced, "Yes, this is
Mary V--it's _all right_--right on the porch, but it's all right--"

Dad and mommie took the hint and withdrew.

THE END

* * * * *

B. M. BOWER'S NOVELS

CHIP OF THE FLYING U. Wherein the love affairs of Chip and Della Whitman
are charmingly and humorously told.

THE HAPPY FAMILY. A lively and amusing story, dealing with the adventures
of eighteen jovial, big hearted Montana cowboys.

HER PRAIRIE KNIGHT. Describing a gay party of Easterners who exchange a
cottage at Newport for a Montana ranch-house.

THE RANGE DWELLERS. Spirited action, a range feud between two families,
and a Romeo and Juliet courtship make this a bright, jolly story.

THE LURE OF THE DIM TRAILS. A vivid portrayal of the experience of an
Eastern author among the cowboys.

THE LONESOME TRAIL. A little branch of sage brush and the recollection of
a pair of large brown eyes upset "Weary" D