udies
on her return to New York. I regret exceedingly not being
able to make your personal acquaintance. But, if ever you
come east, we shall hope to see something of you."

Miranda Bailey sniffed at this letter openly.

"I hope they ain't spiled the child," she said. "I wonder what's the
matter with the Nicholson teacher woman?"

"What do you mean?" asked Mormon.

"She says she's amenable. I ain't sure of the word, but I believe that
means thin-blooded or underfed. My sister's niece by marriage was that
way till they fed her cod-liver oil an' scraped beef. 'Pears to me as if
all the companions an' governesses was that kind of folk. I suppose they
hire out cheaper account of not bein' overstrong."

"You can search me," answered Mormon. "Ask Sandy, he's browsin' through
the dikshunary reg'lar these days. Gettin' so it's hard to sabe half he
tells you."

Sandy had to look up the word. "Liable to make answer," he read out.

"One of the snippy kind, back-talkin' an' peevish," said Miranda. "I
can't bear 'em."

"That's the legal meaning," said Sandy. "I reckon this is
it--submissive."

"Halter-broke. That's more likely. That's the kind that Keith party w'ud
pick. I ain't ever seen her nor don't hope nor expect to, but that's the
kind she'd pick. No backbone. Molly'll twist her round her little
finger. Wonder how old she is?"

"The word you meant was anemic, Miss Mirandy," said Sandy, turning a
leaf in the dictionary. "They sound about the same."

"There's too many words anyway," she replied. "Folks don't use mo'n a
hundredth part of 'em an' git along first-rate. I don't see why they
print 'em." Miranda did not show to the best advantage during the rest
of her visit. She snubbed Mormon severely when he offered to get water
for her car. "I've fetched an' carried for myself long enough not to
want to be waited on," she said. "An' I don't need water anyway." She
drove off and had to bail from an irrigating ditch before she was
half-way to her destination. Whereupon she took herself to task.

"Miranda Bailey, there's no fool like an old fool," she said aloud, with
sage-brush and timid prairie dogs for audience. "What you want to do is
to keep sweet. Now git on." The final adjuration was to her car, to
which she always spoke exactly as if it was a horse.

"What do you suppose made her so cantankerous?" Mormon inquired after
she had driven round the corral. "Reckon you got her sore bawlin' her
out ab