ouraged.
Owen Field was over from New York and gave me a real hurrah. I am going
to exhibit in New York next fall if all goes well with me among the
Tetongs."

XIV

ELSIE REVISITS CURTIS

Jennie thought her brother the handsomest man in the State as they
walked up and down the station platform waiting for the express train
which was bringing Elsie and Lawson and a famous Parisian-American
sculptor and his wife. Curtis was in undress uniform, and in the midst
of the slouching crowd of weather-beaten loafers he seemed a man of
velvet-green parade grounds and whitewashed palings, commanding lines of
polished bayonets.

He was more profoundly stirred at the thought of Elsie's coming than he
cared to admit, but Jennie's delight was outspoken. "I didn't know how
hungry for a change I was," she said. "They will bring the air of the
big city world with them."

The whistle of the far-off train punctuated her sentences. "Oh, George,
doesn't it seem impossible that in a few moments the mistress of that
great Washington home will descend the car-steps to meet us?"

"Yes, I can't believe it," he replied, and his hands trembled a little
as he nervously buttoned his coat.

The train came rapidly to a stop, with singing rods, grinding brakes,
and the whiz of escaping steam. Some ordinary mortals tumbled out, and
then the wonderful one!

"There they are!" cried Jennie. "And, oh--aren't her clothes maddening!"

Lawson, descending first, helped Elsie to the platform with an accepted
lover's firm touch. She wore a blue-cloth tailored suit which fitted
marvellously, and her color was more exquisite than ever. Admiring
Jennie fairly gasped as the simple elegance of Elsie's habit became
manifest, and she had only a glance for the sculptor and his wife.

Elsie, with hands extended, seized upon them both with cordial
intensity. A little flurry of hand-shakings followed, and at last Mr.
and Mrs. Jerome Parker were introduced. He was a tall man with a bush of
yellow beard, while she was dark and plain; but she had a pleasant
smile, and her eyes were nice and quiet.

"Do you know, I'm overjoyed to get back!" said Elsie to Curtis. "I don't
know why I should be, but I've been eagerly looking for the Cleft Butte
all day. Jerome will tell you that I expressed a sort of proprietorship
in every prairie-dog."

"We are very glad to have you here again," replied Curtis. "And now that
you _are_ here, we must get your belongings toget