it. She said a man who had the
spunk to stick up for his dog the way Bill did would be a purty handy
kind to have around the house, an' she was just tryin' him out to see
how far he'd go. She was actually fond of dogs all the time, especially
bulldogs. A girl-baby three years old could have fooled Methusaleh in
his prime, an' that means after he'd had about six hundred years of
experience. She's a wonderful invention, woman.

All the while before Barbie left, she was tryin' to plan out what use
she was goin' to put her edication to. Sometimes she was minded to go
on the stage, at others lawyerin' looked good to her, but most of the
time she seemed to think that a female doctor would come nearer fittin'
her than anything else.

Me an' Jabez worried about it a heap; but we was wise enough to hide
it. We knew that Barbie carted around at all times what they call a
spirit of combativity, which fattened on opposition, an' we preferred
to let her scrap it out with herself, hopin' that what she finally
decided on would be all for the best.

Jabez said good-bye at the edge of the ranch, while I drove her over to
Webb Station. I kind o' fought shy of Danders 'cause it seemed to me
that the' was always some kind of a job waitin' for me there, an'
Barbie had left me a heap of work for that winter. "Have you learned
anything yet?" she asked me, after the train had pulled into sight an'
we was shakin' hands.

"Not a thing for certain," sez I. "I've stumbled onto several rumors,
but they always went out. Do you still study over it much, Barbie?"

"Never a day goes by but what I study over it," sez she. "There isn't
anything I wouldn't give to know about my mother--all about her."

"Are you sure, Barbie?" said I.

She thought hard a minute, an' then she threw back her head an' looked
into my eyes. "Yes," she said, in a low tone, "I'd give
everything--even the love and respect I feel for my father."

I gave a little shiver. "Barbie," I sez, "I don't think you'll ever
have to pay that high a price. I never saw your Dad cruel in cold
blood, an' he's purty just."

"Oh, I would rather die than find out that he'd ever been cruel to my
mother; but I do want to know about her; and some day I will." She
squeezed my hand hard and her eyes were wet with tears when she stepped
on the train; but she tried to smile, she sure did.

CHAPTER TWENTY

RICHARD WHITTINGTON ARRIVES

Well, that winter rolled by without a break. Me an