d nests of chaparral-birds; sat on the top bar of
the old pasture fence and watched the little calves gambolling; or,
earlier in the spring, had gathered great armfuls of blue bonnets from
over in the south meadow. Now when she found herself away from the
house, skirting San Franciscito in an eager chase for a butterfly, she
could have thought the past ten months all a dream,--except for a
certain small brown dog tearing madly from one gopher-hole to another,
while Don, in the veteran's scorn for the novice, refused to be
enticed from his mistress' side.

"Where's Grandmother?" she asked as she entered the dining-room.
Grandmother always sat at the head of the breakfast table, and her
sweet "homey" face over the teacups, was the first thing Blue Bonnet
looked for.

"Benita says the Senora is not well," replied Juanita.

The brightness all went out of the morning. Grandmother breakfasting
in bed! It was unheard of. In her impetuous rush from the room Blue
Bonnet almost collided with Benita. "Is Grandmother awake--can I go to
her?" she asked, impatiently.

"It is better not. The Senora prefers to rest," said Benita.

"What's the matter with her, Benita? I never knew Grandmother to be
ill before," Blue Bonnet asked miserably.

"It is the shock, I think. The Senora is not so young as she once was,
Senorita."

Blue Bonnet turned away, sick at heart. In the nursery she found
nothing to improve her spirits. Kitty lay languid and pale among her
pillows, saying that her head ached and she didn't care for any
breakfast. Debby, too, had kept her bed, declaring that she couldn't
bear shoes on her poor lacerated feet. Amanda and Sarah only appeared
as usual, and these two had their spirits dampened immediately by the
sight of Blue Bonnet's gloomy countenance.

The three of them had the table to themselves, the men having
breakfasted earlier than usual and Alec and Knight having hurried
through the meal and ridden off, no one knew where. Blue Bonnet was
not conversational; everything in her world seemed topsy-turvy, and
she felt that she must have an hour of hard thinking to sort things
out and put them in their places.

Amanda and Sarah, respecting Blue Bonnet's mood, were silent. During
this period of unusual restraint, a resolution was forming in Amanda's
mind, and at the conclusion of the meal she made an announcement that
would have petrified the rest had it come at any other time.

"I'm going to study," she said.