t him.

"You haven't met my aunt, Mrs. Archer," she said in her low, pleasant
voice. "Auntie, this is Buck Green, our new hand."

From a chair beside one of the west windows, there rose a little old lady
at the sight of whom Buck's eyes widened in astonishment. Just what he had
expected Mrs. Archer to be he hardly knew, but certainly it wasn't this
dainty, delicate, Dresden-China person who came forward to greet him. Tiny
she was, from her old-fashioned lace cap to the tips of her small, trim
shoes. Her gown, of some soft gray stuff, with touches of old lace here
and there, was modishly cut yet without any traces of exaggeration. Her
abundant white hair was beautifully arranged, and her cheeks, amazingly
soft and smooth, with scarcely a line in them, were faintly pink. A more
utterly incongruous figure to find on an outlying Arizona ranch would be
impossible to imagine, and Buck was hard put to refrain from showing his
surprise.

"How do you do, Mr. Green?" she said in a soft agreeable voice, which
Stratton recognized at once as the one he had overheard that morning. "My
niece has told me how helpful you've been already."

Buck took her outstretched hand gingerly, and looked down into her
upturned face. Her eyes were blue, and very bright and eager, with
scarcely a hint of age in them. For a brief moment they gazed steadily
into his, searching, appraising, an underlying touch of wistful anxiety in
their clear depths. Then a twinkle flashed into them and of a sudden
Stratton felt that he liked her very much indeed.

"I'm mighty glad to meet you," he said impulsively.

The smile spread from eyes to lips. "Thank you," she replied. "I think I
may say the same thing. I hope you'll like it here well enough to stay."

There was a faint accent on the last word. Buck noticed it, and after she
had left them, saying she was going to rest a little, he wondered. Did she
want him to remain merely because of the short-handed condition of the
ranch, or was there a deeper reason? He glanced at Miss Thorne to find her
regarding him with something of the same anxious scrutiny he had noticed
in her aunt. Her gaze was instantly averted, and a faint flush tinged her
cheeks, to be reflected an instant later in Stratton's face.

"By the way," he said hurriedly, annoyed at his embarrassment, "do you
happen to know where the men are? I thought I'd hunt them up. There's no
sense in my hanging around all afternoon doing nothing."