to ride one of those contraptions,"
he said. "I tried it once an' the wires bucked my fingers off reg'lar.
But I sure hate writin' longhand."

"Why not import one of them stenographers?" suggested Mormon.

"Sure," jeered Sam. "Why not? Then you c'ud put in yore spare moments
gentlin' a hawss fo' her an' pickin' wild flowers, until Mirandy Bailey
persuades her the climate is too chilly. But I'll bet Molly c'ud handle
that end of it prime, if she was back."

"I w'udn't wonder," said Sandy.

There was a lot of interjected talk about what Molly might say or do.
With the founding of the Three Star Ranch the lives of the partners had
changed a good deal. They held responsibilities, they owned a home and
they lived there. None of them, since they were children, had ever known
the close companionship of a young girl. Mormon's matrimonial adventures
had been foredoomed shipwrecks on the sands of time, his wives marital
pirates preying on his good nature and earnings. Molly had leavened
their existences in a way that two of them hardly suspected and the
yeast of affection was still working. Each hung to the hope that she
might return to the ranch again to stay and each felt that hope was a
faint one.

When, at last, there came the news, from Molly herself and from Mrs.
Keith, that Keith was coming out to make inspection of his Casey Town
properties, that he was traveling in a private car with his son, with
Molly and her governess-companion, and that the two latter would get off
at Hereford for a visit to the Three Star, Sandy went about with a
whistle, Sam breathed sanguine melodies through the harmonica and Mormon
beamed all over. The illumination was apparent. Sam told him he looked
"all lit up, like a Chinee lantern" and Mormon beamed the more.

Molly's letter was primed with delight. Mrs. Keith's contained regrets
that her physicians did not think the journey would be best for her to
undertake in the present state of her health, which meant that she
feared possible discomforts en route and imagined the ranch as a place
where one was fed only on beans, sourdough bread, bull meat and
indifferent coffee.

"You will find Miss Nicholson most efficient and amenable,"
she penned. "She has done remarkably well with your ward. I
believe my husband expects to stay in your vicinity about a
month and we have decided to make a holiday of it for Molly,
so far as lessons are concerned. She can resume her st