, isn't
it?"

Undine blushed, and looked embarrassed, and Marjorie hastened to
explain.

"It isn't her real name, but she didn't like being called Sally, so we
thought we would call her Undine until she remembers what her name is.
It's a very interesting story, Uncle Henry, but I won't stop to tell it
now, for it's getting late, and I must hurry home as fast as I can, and
have Father send a team for you. I wish you could ride my pony; I
wouldn't mind walking the five miles a bit."

"That's a nice little girl of Susie's," Mr. Carleton remarked to
himself, as the ponies and their riders disappeared in a cloud of dust.
"She has her mother's eyes and friendly ways, but--well, perhaps it was
just as well I couldn't persuade Julia to stop over at the ranch. I
doubt if Marjorie and Elsie would hit it off very well together."

CHAPTER V

UNCLE HENRY'S PROPOSITION

MR. CARLETON received a hearty welcome at the ranch. Mr. and Mrs. Graham
were not the sort of people to remember old grievances; Mrs. Graham was
honestly glad to see her brother, and they were both quite willing to
let bygones be bygones. So the visitor found the meeting with his sister
and her husband a much less embarrassing one than he had expected, and
the days at the ranch passed so pleasantly that he was easily persuaded
to prolong his stay from a day or two to a week, and then to a
fortnight. He and his sister had more than one long confidential talk,
and although no word of complaint was uttered, Mr. Carleton was clever
enough to read between the lines, and it was after one of these talks
that he wrote a letter to his wife in New York, for an answer to which
he was anxiously waiting.

It was on an afternoon in the second week of his visit that Mr. Carleton
sauntered out on to the porch, to find Marjorie alone, and busily
engaged in trimming a hat.

"Where are all the others?" he inquired, throwing himself rather wearily
into the rocker by her side. "I've been writing letters all the
afternoon, and haven't heard a sound in the house."

"They are all out," said Marjorie. "Father wanted Mother to see some
colts he is thinking of buying, and Aunt Jessie has gone with them, for
the sake of the drive. Undine has gone, too."

"And how does it happen that you were left behind, like Cinderella.
Wasn't there room in the wagon?"

"Oh, I could have squeezed in, or else ridden Roland, but I was too
busy. I'm making a new hat, and that's always a very