r and Gordon Wade. With a
little smile hovering on her lips, she wrote dramatically of the
Senator's threat to crush the ranchman. "That will please mother," she
said to herself, as her pen raced over the paper. "Gordon felt, you see,
that"--she turned a page--"father knew Santry had not killed Jensen,
and...."

The hotel-keeper poked his head in at the doorway.

"Two ladies to see you, Miss," he announced. "Mrs. Purnell and
daughter."

He gave Helen no chance to avoid the visit, for with the obviousness of
the plains, he had brought the visitors upstairs with him, and so,
blotting what she had written and weighing down her letter against the
breeze, she arose to greet them.

"This is good of you, Mrs. Purnell, and I am so glad to meet your
daughter. I've been lonely and blue all day and now you have taken pity
on me."

Mrs. Purnell shot an "I told you so" glance at Dorothy, which made that
young lady smile to herself.

"I was sorry not to have been at home when you called, Miss Rexhill."

The two girls looked at each other, each carefully veiling hostility,
Dorothy beneath a natural sweetness of disposition, and Helen with the
_savoir faire_ of social experience. Each felt and was stung by a
realization of the other's points of advantage. Dorothy saw a perfection
of well-groomed poise, such as she could hardly hope to attain, and
Helen was impressed with her rival's grace and natural beauty.

"Won't you sit down?"

"But aren't we disturbing you?" Mrs. Purnell asked, with a glance toward
the writing materials.

"Indeed, you are not. I was writing some duty letters to kill time. I'm
only too glad to stop because I'm really in no writing mood and I am
most anxious to hear what is going on outside. Isn't it dreadful about
Mr. Wade?"

"You mean his helping Santry?" Dorothy asked, with a little touch of
pride which did not escape her hostess.

"Partly that; but more because he is sure to be arrested himself. I've
been terribly worried."

Dorothy glanced at her keenly and smiled.

"I have an idea that they may find Gordon hard to arrest," she remarked.

"Yes," Mrs. Purnell put in. "He is so popular. Still, I agree with you
that there is every cause for anxiety." The good lady did not have a
chance every day to agree with the daughter of a United States Senator,
and the opportunity was not to be overlooked.

"The people feel so strongly that Santry should never have been arrested
that they are not likely