er idea was preposterous. And yet--"

It was the recurrence of this "yet" that alarmed her. For she remembered
now that but for their slavish devotion they might claim to be her
equal. According to her father's account, they had come from homes as
good as their own; they were certainly more than her equal in fortune;
and her father had come to them as an employee, until they had taken him
into partnership. If there had only been sentiment of any kind
connected with any of them! But they were all alike, brave, unselfish,
humorous--and often ridiculous. If anything, Dick Mattingly was funniest
by nature, and made her laugh more. Maryland Joe, his brother, told
better stories (sometimes of Dick), though not so good a mimic as the
other Kearney, who had a fairly sympathetic voice in singing. They were
all good-looking enough; perhaps they set store on that--men are so
vain.

And as for her own rejected suitor, Fairfax Munroe, except for a kind of
grave and proper motherliness about his protecting manner, he absolutely
was the most indistinctive of them all. He had once brought her some
rare tea from the Chinese camp, and had taught her how to make it; he
had cautioned her against sitting under the trees at nightfall; he had
once taken off his coat to wrap around her. Really, if this were the
only evidence of devotion that could be shown, she was safe!

"Well," said Jessie, "it amuses you, I see."

Christie checked the smile that had been dimpling the cheek nearest
Jessie, and turned upon her the face of an elder sister.

"Tell me, have YOU noticed this extraordinary attention of Mr. Munroe to
me?"

"Candidly?" asked Jessie, seating herself comfortably on the table
sideways, and endeavoring, to pull her skirt over her little feet.
"Honest Injun?"

"Don't be idiotic, and, above all, don't be slangy! Of course,
candidly."

"Well, no. I can't say that I have."

"Then," said Christie, "why in the name of all that's preposterous, do
they persist in pairing me off with the least interesting man of the
lot?"

Jessie leaped from the table.

"Come now," she said, with a little nervous laugh, "he's not so bad as
all that. You don't know him. But what does it matter now, as long as
we're not going to see them any more?"

"They're coming here for the ride to-day," said Christie resignedly.
"Father thought it better not to break it off at once."

"Father thought so!" echoed Jessie, stopping with her hand on the door.