main much longer in her room, she dreaded more and more
the thought of meeting him. She could not understand herself; she
had strange dreams; she cried seemingly without the slightest cause
and she was restless and unhappy. Finally she grew angry and scolded
herself. She said she was silly and sentimental. This had the effect
of making her bolder, but it did not quiet her unrest. Betty did not
know that the little blind God, who steals unawares on his victim,
had marked her for his own, and that all this sweet perplexity was
the unconscious awakening of the heart.

One afternoon, near the end of Betty's siege indoors, two of her
friends, Lydia Boggs and Alice Reynolds, called to see her.

Alice had bright blue eyes, and her nut brown hair hung in
rebellious curls around her demure and pretty face. An adorable
dimple lay hidden in her rosy cheek and flashed into light with her
smiles.

"Betty, you are a lazy thing!" exclaimed Lydia. "Lying here all day
long doing nothing but gaze out of the window."

"Girls, I am glad you came over," said Betty. "I am blue. Perhaps
you will cheer me up."

"Betty needs some one of the sterner sex to cheer her," said Alice,
mischievously, her eyes twinkling. "Don't you think so, Lydia?"

"Of course," answered Lydia. "When I get blue--"

"Please spare me," interrupted Betty, holding up her hands in
protest. "I have not a single doubt that your masculine remedies are
sufficient for all your ills. Girls who have lost their interest in
the old pleasures, who spend their spare time in making linen and
quilts, and who have sunk their very personalities in a great big
tyrant of a man, are not liable to get blue. They are afraid he may
see a tear or a frown. But thank goodness, I have not yet reached
that stage."

"Oh, Betty Zane! Just you wait! Wait!" exclaimed Lydia, shaking her
finger at Betty. "Your turn is coming. When it does do not expect
any mercy from us, for you shalt never get it."

"Unfortunately, you and Alice have monopolized the attentions of the
only two eligible young men at the fort," said Betty, with a laugh.

"Nonsense there plenty of young men all eager for our favor, you
little coquette," answered Lydia. "Harry Martin, Will Metzer,
Captain Swearengen, of Short Creek, and others too numerous to
count. Look at Lew Wetzel and Billy Bennet."

"Lew cares for nothing except hunting Indians and Billy's only a
boy," said Betty.

"Well, have it your own way," said Lydi