ffectually had she tried. Concealment was far from her thoughts,
however. She had no idea that a hue and cry would be raised for her.
The Fates, in the shapes of Billy, Cupid and Puck, had taken her
destiny in hand and landed her with this golden girl, who wanted her
and loved her and petted her and made her feel at home. Here she would
stay. How long? She would not let herself dwell on that subject.

What the rest of the family would think of her claiming kin with the
hitherto impossible Bucks made little difference to the old lady. She
determined never to divulge that old Billy had engineered the visit,
but intended, when the question came up with her kinsmen, to let it be
understood that she, Ann Peyton, had ruled that Judith Buck belonged
to the family and had as good a right to the name of Bucknor as any
person bearing the name.

The old men of Ryeville were seated in tilted chairs on the hotel
porch. The little touch of autumn in the air made it rather pleasant
when the sun sought out their feet resting on the railing.

"What's this I hear about the disappearance of Miss Ann Peyton?" asked
Major Fitch. "Someone told me that she has not been heard of now for
several days and Bob Bucknor is just about having a fit over it. He
and Big Josh are scouring the country for her, after having burnt up
all the telephone wires in the county trying to locate her."

"It's true," chuckled Colonel Crutcher. "My granddaughter says Mildred
Bucknor is raising a rumpus because her father is saying he can't go
abroad until Cousin Ann is found. First, he can't go because the old
lady is visiting him and now he can't go because she isn't visiting
him."

"Well, a big, old ramshackledy rockaway like Miss Ann's, with a pair
of horses fat enough to eat and the bow-leggedest coachman in
Kentucky, to say nothing of Miss Ann herself with her puffy red wig
and hoop skirts as wide as a barn door, couldn't disappear in a rat
hole. They must be somewhere and they must have gone along the road to
get where they were going. Certainly they haven't passed this way or
we'd have seen them," said Judge Middleton.

"I hear tell Bob Bucknor has sent for Jeff to come and advise him,"
drawled Pete Barnes. "And I also hear tell that the Bucknor men were
gettin' ready to let poor ol' Miss Ann know that she was due to settle
herself in an ol' ladies' home. They were cookin' it up that day they
all had dinner here last week."

"Yes, and what's more, I he