re?"

But he was laughing again, again threatening to kiss her adorable red
mouth if she did not behave and tell him all about herself.

"If you had really wanted to know couldn't you have ridden over
sooner?" she asked.

Then he told her why he had stayed away, how he had wanted to see her
every day, how he had thought that she would understand.

"Your father forbade me the ranch," he reminded her. "At first I
thought that it would be impossible for me to bring myself to set foot
upon property belonging to him. I thought of sending word to you by
Garth, by Dart even, asking you to meet me somewhere, anywhere that I
would not be trespassing. And, dear, even before I would ask you to
meet me, if you still cared!" with mock seriousness, "I wanted time to
fight things out with myself, a few days in which to see if there was
not some way out better than this one. I hoped, even, that your father
would change his mind, that he would be fair with me as it is his way
to be. And then at last, when I could not wait any longer, I came.
And now, my Wanda Witch, I am going to stay until you come and put both
arms around my neck and admit that you love me so hard that you've been
perfectly miserable since you saw me!"

"And Helga?" she insisted lightly but with just a hint of curiosity.

"If you go on that way much more," he assured her, "I'll say, 'Damn
Helga!' Tell me about yourself."

There was much to tell and it came at last as they sat together under
the cedar, oblivious of the world about them, careless of what might
lie in the future for them. There was the story of her rides, the
murder of a bear cub, the meeting with Willie Dart, and--

"And, first of all," she cried triumphantly, "the discovery of a
wonderful secret."

She refused to tell him what it was until he obeyed her bidding. She
sent him scouting to see that no human eye could spy upon them, and
then she sent him climbing the cedar.

"What's this?" he rebelled. "At least tell me whether I'm supposed to
gather an armful of clouds or wait until dark and bring down some
stars."

"Go straight up until I tell you to stop," she laughed. "And be sure
you don't fall."

"Would you care very much, Wanda?" he asked loverlike and foolishly.

"I should," she informed him, her eyes twinkling. "For I shall be
climbing right under you."

"Oh, I know, then. We're going to heaven."

And up he went. Laughing, calling back and forward like two children,