tertainment," said Sarah.

Blue Bonnet paused long enough to shake her. "Don't you dare suggest
such a horrible thing to your father, Sarah! My letter wasn't intended
for--public consumption."

"Nor mine!" exclaimed Kitty. "Father and mother know what a
scatter-brain I am, but it's a family skeleton which they don't care
to have aired."

"Is the mail all in?" asked Alec in an official tone.

"All in, postmaster," replied Mrs. Clyde, fastening the bag and
handing it to him with a smile. "You're not going alone, are you?"

"No, Shady is going along this trip, Senora," he replied.

"Why don't we all go?" asked Blue Bonnet; "it isn't much of a ride."

Sarah looked up in alarm, but met Mrs. Clyde's reassuring glance. "Not
this time, dear," she returned to Blue Bonnet. "So far you have had
all play and no work. The piano hasn't been touched since we
arrived."

Blue Bonnet said nothing, but into her eyes there sprang a sudden
rebellion. Out there by the stables Don and Solomon were frolicking,
ready at a moment's notice to dash away at Firefly's heels. Away in
front of the house stretched the road and the prairie, calling
irresistibly to her restless, roving spirit. And vacation had been so
long in coming! If grandmother were going to be like Aunt Lucinda--
Again there flashed into her mind the wish so often voiced in
Woodford: that there might be two of her, so that one might stay at
home and be taught things while the other went wandering about as she
liked. All at once she remembered Alec's suggestion--that she adopt
Sarah as her "alter ego." A smile drove the cloud from her eyes.
"Can't Sarah do my practising while I do her riding?" she asked
coaxingly.

Her grandmother hid a smile as she said: "I was under the impression
that my coming to the ranch was to see that Blue Bonnet Ashe did her
practising, mending, and had coffee only on Sundays."

Blue Bonnet colored. She had uttered those very words, and nobody
should say that an Ashe was not sincere. Straightening up she met the
questioning looks of the other girls with a resolute glance.
"Grandmother is right, as she always is, girls. I'll go and practise,
and you--what will you do?"

"I'm sure all the girls will be glad of a little time to themselves,"
said the Senora. "Let us all do as we like until dinner-time. I've
been longing to sit in the shade of the big magnolia ever since I
came. I shall take a book and spend my two hours out there, and any
one who