work!" beamed Miss Jean. "When _is_ the wedding?"

"Wedding? I don't know," Angus admitted. "We didn't talk about that."

"You're going to buy a wedding ring and you don't know when you'll be
married?" Miss Jean cried scandalized.

"Well, we'll be married some time. I always order more repair parts of
machinery than I want, and they always come in handy. So will the ring."

"Repairs! Machinery! Oh, my grief!" ejaculated Miss Jean. "I suppose you
_have_ a soul, but--Oh, well never mind!" She threw her broom recklessly
at a corner, and her dust cap after it. "Go and saddle Pincher for me,
will you? And you men will have to get your own dinner. I'm going over
to spend the day with my _sister_!"

When she had gone, burning up the trail toward Faith's ranch, Angus
saddled Chief and rode to town, taking with him the notice he had
received from Mr. Braden. He looked upon it as a matter of form, and
attached little importance to it. With the undoubted security of the
ranch he anticipated no difficulty in securing an extension.

"Of course," he said to his creditor, "I don't suppose this means just
what it says."

"It means exactly what it says," Mr. Braden informed him. "The loan is
very badly in arrears, and I have made up my mind to call it in."

"But the security is good for double the money."

"Security isn't money. You are away behind. Then there is that note,
past due. I can't let these things run on indefinitely."

"You always told me not to worry about interest payments."

"It doesn't look as if you did worry about them. I carried you along
because you were a mere boy, and under the circumstances I couldn't
press for money. But you have increased your debt instead of decreasing
it. I have been easy, that's what I've been--too easy. I can look back
at my dealings with you," Mr. Braden continued with virtuous
satisfaction, "and I can truly say that I have dealt tenderly with
the--er--fatherless. But of course there's a limit."

"Well, if you feel that way about it, the only way I can pay up is to
get a loan elsewhere."

"There's another way," Mr. Braden told him. "I make the suggestion to
help you out, principally. If you will sell the place I will take it
over at a fair price, and pay you the difference in cash."

"I don't want to sell."

"Think it over. The ranch is saddled with a heavy debt. _You_ are
saddled with more than a young man should be called on to carry. _You_
are the one who will have to p