Jacqueline gave a comfy sigh. "I _am_ glad to be at home," she murmured.
"I haven't had any special adventure. Jean, I know you will be disgusted
with me, but I got lost and wandered over on the Norton ranch. I met Dan
Norton and he was horrid to me. Oh, Frieda darling, hasn't Aunt Ellen
saved me anything to eat? I am simply starving," Jacqueline ended,
anxious to change the subject.

Aunt Ellen came in at this moment bearing a waiter. She was nearly six
feet tall, part Indian and part colored, and she had lived with the
Ralstons ever since Mr. and Mrs. Ralston came to Wyoming from the East,
bringing Jack, who was then only two years old.

The old woman was frowning and shaking her head, as she put down Jack's
supper. "Ought never to have ridden off across the ranch alone, ought
not to be coming back home way after dark. I am sure the master never
would have liked you chilluns living here and trying to run things for
yourself," she muttered.

Jack flushed, although she patted the old woman's hand affectionately
and said nothing. Jack knew she deserved the scolding and that she would
have another from Jim Colter, the manager of their ranch, in the
morning. To-night he had led Hotspur away without a word and retired to
his own quarters.

No one, excepting strangers, ever called Jacqueline Ralston anything but
Jack. She never thought of herself by her pretty French name, except
when she wished to appear very grown up and impressive. As for little
Frieda, she had been born at Rainbow Ranch house thirteen years before
on Christmas eve. She was such a fair little German-looking baby, with
her blue eyes and flaxen hair, that her mother gave her the pretty
German name of Frieda, which means peace. Mrs. Ralston died when Frieda
was only a few months old, but the little girl had fairly earned her
name all her life. Peace and War, Jean used to call the two sisters,
when she wanted to tease Jack, for Jacqueline was as high-tempered and
determined as Frieda was gentle and serene.

Jean was a slender, graceful maiden, with hair and eyes of the same nut
brown color. She had come to live at the ranch ten years before, when
her mother, Mr. Ralston's sister, died, and Mr. Ralston decided it would
be better to bring up three motherless girls than two. Jean had a
gentle, far-away expression, though Jack always asserted that Jean was
present when she wanted to be. She only dreamed dreams and wore her
aloof expression when people bor