PINKEY.

Wallie grew warm every time he thought of such a message addressed to
him coming over the wire. Though worse than inelegant, and partially
unintelligible, it was plain enough that what he wanted was there if he
went for it, and he had replied that Pinkey might look for him shortly
in Prouty.

And to-day he was leaving! He was saying good-bye forever to the hotel
that was like home to him and the friends that were as his own
relatives! He had $2,100 in real money--a legacy--and his clothing. In
his new-born spirit of independence he wished that he might even leave
his clothes behind him, but he had changed his mind when he had figured
the cost of buying others.

His aunt had taken no notice of Wallie's preparations for departure. The
news of the rupture had spread quickly, and the sympathies of the guests
were equally divided. All were agreed, however, that if Wallie went West
he would soon have enough of it and be back in time to go South for the
winter.

Helene Spenceley had left unexpectedly upon the receipt of a telegram,
and it was one of Wallie's favourite speculations as to what she would
say when she heard he was a neighbour--something disagreeable, probably.

With the solemnity which a person might feel who is planning his own
funeral, Wallie arose and made a careful toilet. It would be the last in
the room that he had occupied for so many summers. The hangings were
handsome, the chairs luxurious, and his feet sunk deep in the nap of the
velvet carpet. The equipment of the white, commodious bathroom was
perfection, and no article of furniture was missing from his bedroom
that could contribute to the comfort of a modish young man accustomed to
every modern convenience.

As Wallie took his shower and dusted himself with scented talcum and
applied the various lotions and skin-foods recommended for the
complexion, he wondered what the hotel accommodations would be like in
Prouty, Wyoming. Not up to much, he imagined, but he decided that he
would duplicate this bathroom in his own residence as soon as he had his
homestead going. Wallie's knowledge of Wyoming was gathered chiefly from
an atlas he had borrowed from Mr. Cone. The atlas stated briefly that it
contained 97,890 square miles, mostly arid, and a population of 92,531.
It gave the impression that the editors themselves were hazy on Wyoming,
which very likely was the truth, since it had been published in Mr.
Cone's childhood wh