her tear-stained appearance. "Wait a
minute," he ordered bruskly. He ran down to the spring stream just
beyond the willows and soaking and rinsing out his handkerchief, brought
it dripping to her. "Mop your eyes, Jane, they look awful. There--that's
better. I'll be along pretty soon!"

Mrs. Morton had not considered it necessary to inform Katy and Gertie
that she had also written to their mother, asking if their visit might
be prolonged until the last of August. Mrs. Morton was firm in the
opinion that every detail of children's lives should be settled by their
elders for their best good, and she expected the children to be properly
thankful. Her expectations had not always been realized with her own
children--all three having often very definite ideas of their own as to
what they wanted and what they didn't want. But in this instance she was
not disappointed. The joy was general when Mrs. Halford wrote that the
girls might remain until the twenty-eighth, when a business friend of
Mr. Halford's would be coming through Kansas City, and would meet the
girls there and bring them on home. To be sure, Gertie had a bad half
hour thinking how much longer it would be before she could see Mother,
but she soon forgot all this in the bustle of preparation for Alice and
Dick.

Marian and Frank had arranged several excursions for their last days at
the ranch. They had seen fit to include the young folks in only one of
these--a day in town when they were to go to the old Mission and look up
some interesting Indian Mounds in the neighborhood. Captain Clarke was
to be of the party, and, true to his promise, insisted upon driving the
boys and girls in himself.

The afternoon Alice and Dick were expected, the girls were down the lane
watching for the first glimpse of the bay team, to greet them. They had
arrayed Jilly in white with a wreath of forget-me-nots on her blonde
curls and a small market basket full of hollyhock blooms to scatter in
the pathway of the expected guests. Frank was responsible for the
hollyhocks. Flowers were becoming scarce, it had been so dry, and
Chicken Little was bemoaning the fact that they could hardly find enough
to trim up the house.

"Hollyhocks, sure. There's a whole hedge of them right at your hand.
Nothing could be more appropriate for returning honeymooners. Further,
they're gaudy enough to compete with the two inches of dust in the lane.
If we don't have rain pretty doggoned soon we won't have any