she is pretty badly hurt, but she
will pull through."

Then Ruth, hardly knowing what she was doing, leaned over and kissed Jim
on his forehead under the line of his black hair, and above the level of
his deeply blue Irish eyes. Quite unexpectedly she and Olive now began
to cry for the first time, while Jean and Frieda and Jim were radiant
with relief.

Ten days later the family from the Rainbow Ranch, accompanied by Mr.
Drummond, left the Yellowstone Park for a small town on its borders.

Jack was able to be moved, and they had rented a little furnished house
on the outskirts of the near-by village, hoping that the quiet and
change of scenery might benefit her. She had broken her leg by her fall
over the precipice, but something else more serious appeared to be the
matter with her, something that the doctor did not exactly understand.
She had not been able to sit up since the accident.

A week before the ranch party left the hotel, the Harmons went back to
the Lodge. When Don and his mother found they could be of no service, it
was thought best to take Elizabeth away, for she had never ceased to
insist that the tragedy was her fault and to demand to see Jack; and
this was impossible. But Mr. Drummond had stayed on and on. Even after
he had seen Jack safely moved he seemed unwilling to leave. The little
house was so tiny that there was only room for them and on the front
porch for one cot and one chair, but he lived at a hotel and came each
day to talk to the invalid and to take the other girls for long walks.
Peter had a long, confidential talk with Ruth and Jim, and made them
promise that unless Jack grew better after the summer's rest they would
bring her on to New York in the fall to consult with famous specialists.
He did not dream that they would have to sell a part of the ranch to
manage it; but this was what they had quietly made up their minds to do,
although Jack was not to be told, for fear of upsetting her, and Jim did
not mean to close the bargain with Mr. Harmon until he was able to get
back to the ranch.

The tiny house had been a haven of refuge for two weeks when Peter
Drummond found that he was obliged to leave. He had persuaded the girls
and Ruth to go for a last walk with him, leaving Jim as Jack's guardian.
She was asleep on the porch when they slipped out the back door so
quietly she had not awakened.

You would hardly have known Jack, so great a change had the last few
weeks wrought in her