She's as neat as a new pin, happily. Ah, here's Geoffy. Come
and have your hair brushed, boy."

She went down with one child in her arms and the other holding her
hand,--a pretty little picture for those below.

"My sister will come presently," she explained. "This is her little
girl. And here is my son, Mrs. Watson."

"Dear me,--I had no idea he was such a big child," said that lady. "Five
years old, is he, or six?--only three! Oh, yes, what am I thinking
about; of course he--Well, my little man, and how do you like living up
here in this lonesome place?"

"Very much," replied little Geoff, backing away from the questioner, as
she aimlessly reached out after him.

"He has never lived anywhere else," Clover explained; "so he cannot make
comparisons. Ignorance is bliss, we are told, Mrs. Watson."

Euphane, staid and respectable in her spotless apron, now entered with
the lunch-cloth, and Clover convoyed her guests upstairs to refresh
themselves with cold water after the dust of the drive. By the time they
returned the table was set, and presently Elsie appeared, cool and
fresh in her pretty pink and white gingham with a knot of rose-colored
ribbon in her wavy hair, her cheeks deepened to just the becoming tint,
the very picture of a dainty, well-cared-for little lady. No one would
have suspected that during the last half-hour she had stirred and baked
a pan of brown "gems," mixed a cream mayonnaise for the lettuce, set a
glass dish of "junket" to form, and skimmed two pans of cream, beside
getting out the soup and sweets for Euphane, and trimming the dishes of
fruit with kinnikinick and coreopsis. The little feast seemed to have
got itself ready in some mysterious manner, without trouble to any one,
which is the last added grace of any feast.

"It is perfectly charming here," said Mrs. Phillips, more and more
impressed. "I have seen nothing at all like this at the West."

[Illustration: "No one would have suspected that she had skimmed two
pans of cream"--PAGE 166.]

"There isn't any other place exactly like our valley, I really think. Of
course there are other natural parks among the ranges of the Rockies,
but ours always seems to me quite by itself. You see we lie so as to
catch the sun, and it makes a great difference even in the winter. We
have done very little to the Valley, beyond just making ourselves
comfortable."

"Very comfortable indeed, I should say."

"And so you married the other young man, my