my people
know of our difficulties; they would have been kind, I daresay, but one
hates to ask favors."

"I know," said Miss Graham, comprehendingly; "still, for Marjorie's
sake--"

Mrs. Graham looked troubled.

"Donald and I were talking about it only last night," she said. "It
isn't right to deprive the child of advantages she might have, but think
of sending her all the way to New York, even if Henry and his wife were
willing to take her. Albuquerque would have been different; she could at
least have come home for the holidays, but New York--why, think of it,
Jessie, she has never been away from us for a night in her life!"

Mrs. Graham paused abruptly, her face contracted with pain. The tears
started to Miss Jessie's eyes, but her voice was still quite firm when
she spoke again.

"It would be very hard," she said, "harder for us perhaps than for
Marjorie herself, and yet if it were the best thing to do--"

Here the conversation was interrupted by Juanita, the Mexican maid of
all work, who appeared with the startling announcement that the jam was
boiling over on the stove, and Mrs. Graham hurried away to the kitchen,
leaving her sister-in-law to her own reflections.

CHAPTER II

THE COMING OF UNDINE

IN the meantime, Marjorie, quite unconscious of the anxieties of her
family regarding her future, was cantering away over the prairie on her
bay pony. Having passed the last buildings of the ranch, and trotted
through the Indian village, where more than one woman, and numerous
copper-colored children smiled a friendly greeting, she turned her
pony's head in the direction of the railroad. The nearest town was more
than twenty miles away, but the line of the Santa Fe Railroad ran within
a comparatively short distance from the ranch, and twice every day the
stillness was broken by the whistles of the east and west bound trains,
as they rushed by on their way across the continent, from Los Angeles to
Chicago. To watch the trains go by had been one of the amusements of
Marjorie's life, ever since she could remember. When she was a little
girl, it had been a great treat to be taken by her father, on his big
chestnut horse, and to have him draw rein in full view of the tracks,
and wait to see the great iron horse come rushing by. As soon as she was
old enough to ride out by herself, this spot had become one of her
favorite afternoon excursions. There was a wonderful fascination in
watching the long line of