go away,
because he thought you and Mrs. Blake would not like to meet him. I
told him you would be willing to let bygones be bygones, and help him
start off with a new tally card."

"Lafayette Ashton working--as a cowboy!" murmured Mrs. Blake.

"He is still a good deal of a tenderfoot. But he is learning fast; and
work!--the way he pesters Daddy to find him something to do!"

"He certainly must be a changed man," dryly commented Blake.

"_Cherchez la femme_," said his wife.

"Mrs. Blake!" protested the girl, blushing.

"What's that?" he asked.

"'Find the woman,'" explained Mrs. Blake.

"That's easy," he said, fixing his twinkling eyes on the rosy-faced
girl.

"But I'm sure it has not been because of me--at least not altogether,"
she qualified with her uncompromising honesty.

"I wouldn't blame him even if it was altogether," said Blake.

"Then you will be willing to overlook your past trouble with him?"

"Since you say he has straightened out--yes."

"That's good of you! That's what I expected of you!" exclaimed the
girl. "That is he, in the buckboard."

Without a word, Blake started down the car steps.

"Bring him here at once, Tom," said Mrs. Blake.

Her husband went up beside the motionless figure in the buckboard and
held out his hand. "Glad to meet you, Ashton," he said with
matter-of-fact heartiness. "Jenny wants you to come to her. We're not
ready to start, as we were not certain we would be met."

"Miss--Mrs. Blake wishes me to come!" mumbled Ashton.

"Yes," said Blake, gripping the other's hesitatingly extended hand.

Ashton flushed darkly. "But I--I can't leave the horses," he replied.

Blake signed to the porter, who hastened forward. "Hold the lines for
this gentleman, Sam."

Ashton reluctantly gave the lines into the mulatto's sallow hands and
stepped from the buckboard. His head hung forward as he followed
Blake. But at the foot of the steps he removed his sombrero and forced
himself to look up. Isobel was smiling down at him encouragingly. He
looked from her to Mrs. Blake, his handsome face crimson with shame.

"How do you do, Lafayette?" Mrs. Blake greeted him with quiet
cordiality. "This is a pleasant surprise."

"Yes--yes, indeed! I--yes, very!" he stammered, so embarrassed that he
would have stuck at the foot of the steps had not Blake started him up
with a vigorous boost.

Mrs. Blake gave him her hand. "You look so strong and hearty!" she
remarked. "It speaks well for t