Mollie, eagerly. "Then she doesn't want to sell the
ranch?"

"Right, the first time," cried Betty hilariously. "I think mother has a
sneaking notion that she might look pretty good in a cowboy make-up
herself. You see," she added, with a twinkle, "mother has never had a
chance to own a real honest-to-goodness ranch before."

"Oh, isn't she sweet!" cried Mollie fervently, adding, as one to whom
inspiration had come: "I tell you what, Betty, we'll take her with us!"

"How sweet of you," drawled Grace. "Especially since the ranch belongs
to her!"

The other girls chuckled and Mollie looked rather sheepish.

"Oh, well," she admitted, "I guess it would be a case of her taking us
along."

"And I don't envy her the job," said gentle Amy unexpectedly, while the
girls gazed their reproach.

"Betty," said Mollie, "there is one very important thing that I would
like to know."

"Well, I'm the original little information bureau," Betty assured her.
"What will you have?"

"Does your dad really want to sell the ranch? Or is your mother likely
to win out?"

"Oh, mother always gets her way," said Betty confidently, adding:
"Besides, the ranch was left to mother, you know, and not to dad. So
really she has the say about it."

"Yes, but she might change her mind," said Grace pessimistically.
"Fifteen thousand dollars is a lot of money, you know. She might decide
to sell the ranch, after all."

"Well," said Betty, with an air of importance that the girls were quick
to notice, "there is another reason why mother will probably hold on to
the property, for a little while at least."

"Yes?" they queried eagerly.

"You see," Betty continued thoughtfully, "mother has an idea that this
John Josephs is a little too anxious to buy the ranch. It's right up in
the gold region, you know----"

"Gold!" shrieked Mollie. "You never said a word about gold, Betty
Nelson! Do you mean there may be gold----"

"Now she _is_ getting interesting," admitted Grace, shaken out of her
usual calm.

"How romantic," murmured Amy, breathing fast.

"Yes," said Betty ruefully. "That's what dad says mother is--romantic!
He says there isn't a chance in a thousand that there is real gold
anywhere near that ranch----"

"Stop, woman, stop!" cried Mollie, with her most tragic scowl. "Wouldst
put an end to all our dreams in one fell swoop----"

"Probably that is all we shall do--just dream," said Betty, insisting
upon being practical. "It's an idea of