wn appearance. She probably
knew she was pretty, most pretty people are aware of it, but Jack had
really had so much to do and so many things to think about, that she had
almost none of the vanities of most girls of sixteen. She coiled her
gold-brown braids around her head in simple fashion, though she usually
wore them down, as it was so difficult to keep her hair up when she was
on horseback. But to-night, in honor of the party, she wished to look
more grown up. Jack's hair waved from the roots to the ends and broke
out all over her forehead in wayward curls and was particularly becoming
to her, arranged in a simple coronet. In five minutes she had on her
blue cotton crepe gown and the three went into Mrs. Simpson's big
living-room.

The room had a hardwood floor and had been charmingly decorated with
evergreens, which the men had brought in from the woods at the far end
of the Simpson Ranch.

"Oh, Jack, Jean, look!" Frieda suddenly gasped. A vision of fashionable
loveliness swept before their girlish eyes. Miss Laura Post was crossing
the room followed by her mother. Jack and Jean felt like creeping back
to their bedroom, not realizing how inappropriate Laura's and her
mother's costumes were for such a simple home party.

Laura was a picture and looked as if she had just stepped out of the
pages of a magazine. She wore a white lace gown over silk and chiffon,
trimmed in silver lace. Her hair was elaborately dressed in a
bewildering mass of small, blonde puffs and around her neck a string of
pearls shone softly. Mrs. Post was in violet satin, and wore a diamond
crescent, which made Frieda's round eyes open wider and wider. She had
never seen real diamonds, only their crystal imitations shining in the
great Wyoming rocks.

For a little while Jean and Jack felt as dowdy as old rag dolls, but
when the dancing began they forgot to care about their clothes. There
were a number of other guests besides the house party, who had driven
over to the dance, and most of them were friends of the ranch girls.

Frank did not ask Jack to dance nor did he make any effort to talk to
her. She had said she could not be friends with him and he did not mean
to take advantage of their being at the same house party together, to
thrust himself upon her, as his attentions seemed unwelcome.

After supper, Laura Post grew tired of the simple old-fashioned waltz
which had entertained her visitors the first of the evening, and
insisted that