ppy, we thought you was dead," said she, with a little catch in
her voice that made me wink a time or two. "Where have you been all
these years, an' why didn't you come back to us?"

She stood lookin' into my eyes, half tender an' half cross, an' I
couldn't help but try her out to see which would win. "I didn't know
for sure that I'd be welcome," sez I.

"Oh. Happy!" she sez; an' she threw her arms around my neck an' kissed
me, an' then we went in to breakfast. I answered her questions between
bites, an' as soon as we'd finished I proposed we'd go for a ride. "I
haven't crossed a saddle for two years," sez I. "Is Starlight here yet?"

"Well I should say he is, and fat an' bossy," sez she. "The' hasn't
airy another body but me rode him neither. I divide my ridin' between
him an' Hawkins, just ridin' a colt now an' again to keep from gettin'
careless." Then she stopped an' looked down at the thing she was
wearin' an' said, sadly, "But I reckon my ridin' days are over."

"Alas, yes," sez I, usin' Hammy's most solemn voice, "Old Age has set
his seal upon your brow, an' I can see you sitting knitting by the fire
for your few remainin' days."

"Where did you learn to talk that way?" sez she, quick as a wink. So I
told her of my winter at Slocum's Luck, an' she asked me a million
questions about Hammy an' Locals. When I was through she sat silent for
a while an' then she sez, "Happy, I'm goin' to see more o' the world
than just this ranch some day."

"Well, the' ain't much of it that's a whole lot better--an' I've seen
it about all," sez I.

"You seen it about all?" sez she, scornful; "why, you haven't seen the
inside of one real house."

I glanced around, but she snaps in, "This ain't a house, this is just
shelter from the elements. I'm goin' to see mansions an' palaces, an'
I'm goin' to see 'em from the inside too."

"Have you ever read Monte Cristo?" sez I.

"No," sez she.

"Then don't you do it," sez I. "Your head's about as far turned now as
your neck'll stand, an' what you ought to do is to learn how to cook
an' sew."

She looked at me with her eyes snappin', but in a second her face broke
into a grin. "The' ain't a mite o' use in your tryin' that," sez she.
"You like me just as I am, an' you don't need to feel it's your duty to
work in any that teacher stuff. Gee, but I'm glad you came back It
looks as if me an' Dad is in for a long siege of it this time, an'
you'll keep me from gettin' lonesome."

"Not