re?"

"Yes, on a ranch. There will be chickens and cows and hogs. It sounds
unromantic, doesn't it? But it is really frightfully interesting. It is
what I have always dreamed about. Mark says this is to be
my--reincarnation."

She laughed a little as she explained what she meant. "And when I was in
New York, I bought the duckiest lilac linens and ginghams, and white
aprons, frilly ones. Mark says I shall look like a dairy maid in 'Robin
Hood.'"

The Major, who was in front of them with the Admiral, turned and spoke.

"Tell her about Kemp."

"Oh, he is going with us. It develops that there is a girl in Scotland
who is waiting for him. And he is going to send for her--and they are to
have a cottage on the ranch, and come into the house to help us, and
there is an old Chinese cook that Mark has had for years."

Becky spoke sharply. "You don't mean Mr.--Dalton's Kemp?"

"Yes. He came to Mark. Didn't you know?"

Becky had not known.

"Why did he leave Mr.--Dalton?"

"He and Georgie had a falling out about an omelette. I fancy it was a
sort of comic opera climax. So Mark got a treasure and Georgie-Porgie
lost one----"

"Georgie-Porgie?"

"Oh, I always call him that, and he hates it," Madge laughed at the
memory.

"You did it to--tease him?" slowly.

"I did it because it was--true. You know the old nursery rhyme? Well,
George is like that. There were always so many girls to be--kissed, and
it was so easy to--run away----"

She said it lightly, with shrugged shoulders, but she did not look at
Becky.

And that night when she was dressing for dinner, Madge said to her
husband, "It sounded--catty--Mark. But I had to do it. There's that
darling boy down there eating his heart out. And she is nursing a
dream----"

The Major was standing by his wife's door, and she was in front of her
mirror. It reflected her gold brocade, her amethysts linked with
diamonds in a long chain that ended in a jeweled locket. Her jewel case
was open and she brought out the pendant that George had sent her and
held it against her throat. "It matches the others," she said.

He arched his eyebrows in inquiry.

"I wouldn't wear it," she said with a sudden quick force, "if there was
not another jewel in the world. I wish he hadn't sent it. Oh, Mark, I
wish I hadn't known him before I found--you," she came up to him
swiftly; "such men as you," she said, "if women could only meet
them--_first_----"

His arm went around her. "It is en