Prouty as something between a joke and a
pest.

Mrs. Toomey was thinking of Mormon Joe's murder one morning while she
dusted, and of Kate--conjecturing as to what would become of the girl
when the bank foreclosed and she lost everything. She sighed as, with
the corner of her apron, she removed a smudge from her nose before the
mirror. Wasn't there anything in the world any more but trouble for
people who had no money?

She glanced casually out of the window and stiffened in something very
like horror.

Kate was in front, tying her horse to a transplanted cottonwood sapling.
What if Prissy Pantin should see her! She was visibly agitated, when she
opened the door for Kate--stammering a welcome that had a doubtful
ring, but Kate did not appear to notice. She looked older, Mrs. Toomey
thought, in swift scrutiny. Yes, she had suffered terribly. Her heart
went out to the girl, even while she glanced furtively through the
windows to see who of the neighbors might be looking.

While Mrs. Toomey wondered what excuse she could make for Kate's
presence, if anyone called, she indicated a chair and said nervously:

"I've been hoping to see you and tell you how sorry I am for all that's
happened."

"I've been disappointed that you haven't," Kate replied, simply, "for
your friendship has loomed like a mountain to me in my trouble."

She was still counting on it! Mrs. Toomey got out a frightened:

"Really?"

"When we shook hands on it up there in the draw," Kate went on, sadly,
"I didn't dream how soon or how much I should need you. And women do
need each other in trouble, don't they?" earnestly.

Mrs. Toomey nervously tucked in her "scolding locks."

"Er--of course," constrainedly. Her mind was rambling from Jap to Mrs.
Pantin and the vigilant neighbors.

Kate rose suddenly, and crossing the room stooped to lay her gloved hand
upon Mrs. Toomey's thin shoulders. Looking into her eyes she demanded:

"You don't believe I did it, do you?"

This was a question Mrs. Toomey could answer truthfully and she did,
with convincing sincerity:

"No, I don't!"

"I knew it!" There was a joyous note in Kate's voice, and gratitude. "I
was sure you were true-blue, and I know I'm going to love you!"

Lifting the woman to her feet, with an arm about her shoulders, Kate
kissed her impulsively. She was so slight, so crushable, that Kate
experienced a sense of shock as one does when he feels the bones of a
little bird through its feath