"Where are you going?" he demanded.

"Nowhere. Just riding," she replied.

Her uplifted face was vivid with joy, her eyes sparkling. Suddenly a wave
of color suffused her cheeks.

"I wasn't running away!" she declared, suppressing a chuckle. "Honest, I
wasn't. It's field day. I've been doing stunts and I just ached for a
real, regular ride. It's so grand to be astride a horse and feel the world
is yours! When did you come home?"

"I haven't come home. I am on my way to Fowler's to subpoena a witness,
and I rode this way meaning to stop but a moment. I came over the big hill
just as you rode into the ring."

She stole a look at his impassive face.

"And you saw the sports?"

"Yes; and rode on after you--"

"Because you feared your prisoner might be taking French leave? No; this
is the end of the rainbow to me. I have no desire to leave--at present."

They were riding slowly on.

"Where did you learn to ride?"

"I don't remember; it was so long ago."

"_That_ was circus riding."

"It did look like it," she said deprecatingly.

"If you can ride like that, why did you leave the circus for the life--"

"Of a crook?" she finished. "Suppose I stole a horse and sold it and had
to vamoose. Even circus managers don't employ thieves."

"Who gave you permission to ride to-day?" he demanded.

She pulled from the pocket of her blouse a program and handed it to him.

"You see I was featured," she explained modestly.

He read it with a frown expressive of displeasure.

"Did Mrs. Kingdon know you were going to do this?"

"No one but one of the men knew."

"How did you come to meet the men?"

"The children introduced me to one of them and I met the others at the
dance. I never knew what dancing really meant until then. I've learned to
play a very gamey game, too. Craps."

With a jerk Kurt brought his horse to a halt and reaching over caught her
bridle as she was about to spur her horse onward.

"Did you tell Mrs. Kingdon everything?" he asked sternly.

"Everything I could remember," she replied demurely. "Far more than I told
you."

"What did she say?"

"She is going to talk to you and ask you to leave the entire matter in her
hands."

He broke the short silence that followed.

"Dancing, craps and bronco-breaking are not what I brought you here for."

"But I've done lots of other things, too. Sewed three days straight,
learned how to make salads, heard the children's lessons, picked flowers
and