could arrive in time to save him, armed with a reprieve or pardon--I
didn't quite know which--that I had got from Washington. I waked up
crying out, because a hand had been stretched forth through darkness to
clutch my shoulder, and prevent me from getting to El Paso until too
late. Even then, when I was wide awake, the dream had been so horribly
vivid that I couldn't persuade myself it wasn't true. I had always
laughed at superstitious people who believed in dreams, yet I couldn't
clear my mind of this one, or keep from asking myself in a panic, "What
if it's a warning?" It seemed that after all such things might
mysteriously be.

Alvarado Springs was as dull as a convent after the officers we liked
best had gone from the fort, and Kitty proposed subletting her cottage
to an invalid who, for a wonder, had really come to the place for
nothing but to take the cure. This rare creature was distressed by the
noises of the hotel, and was willing to pay more than Kitty had paid,
for the remaining few weeks of Mrs. Main's tenancy. Our hostess was
enchanted with the idea, clapped her fat, dimpled hands like a little
girl, and proposed to "blow" the money (this was slang she had
delightedly picked up from Father) on a motor tour to California. She
had no car of her own, but she could hire one, with a chauffeur we had
often taken for short runs, and at Los Angeles, Riverside, Santa
Barbara, San Francisco, and other places, she had friends who would
shower invitations. The trip would take from two to six weeks, according
to our own desire. Then, when we were tired of motoring and
country-house visiting, the car would be sent home, and we could have
the fun of going East together by the "Limited," which, Kitty said, was
one of the most wonderful trains in the world.

This was the proposal, and it suited Father and Di very well. Each had a
reason for wishing to prolong the tour in America, if it could be done
"on the cheap." Di, of course, wanted to see Major Vandyke or Captain
March--whichever she decided to take in the end--and settle her affairs
definitely before going home to prepare for the wedding. As to Father, I
began to ask myself about this time if he seriously thought of making
our "Main Chance" a countess, and counting her dollars into his own
pockets. In any case; travelling luxuriously in a land where poor Irish
earls weighed as well in the balance as a rich English variety, was
better than vegetating at Ballyconal