atural to expect that he'll want to marry and settle down some of these
days, and he might not be able to do it as soon as he otherwise would if
he had me to support and keep at college. And, Captain Doane, I don't
want to be just an old maid sister in somebody else's home, even if it
is the home of the dearest brother in the world."

The Captain threw back his head and laughed until the steel-bowed
spectacles slid down his nose again.

"Much danger of your being an old maid sister in anybody's home, in a
place like this where pretty girls are scarcer than hens' teeth," he
declared, teasingly. "I know a likely young lad this minute who'd gladly
save you from that fate. He's been around several times lately,
inquiring when you might be expected back."

Mary was nearly consumed with curiosity to ask who the likely lad was,
but only shrugged her shoulders incredulously, knowing that that would
be the surest way of provoking him to a disclosure.

"Well, he _has_!" insisted the Captain. "It's young Upham, if you must
know."

Mary's brows drew together in a vain effort to recall him, and she shook
her head. "Upham? Upham? I never heard of him."

"Yes, yes, you have," insisted the Captain. "He drove a lumber wagon for
the company summer before last. But he's been to school in Tucson all
the time you've been away, and has just come back."

"Oh, you mean _Pink_ Upham!" exclaimed Mary, suddenly enlightened, with
an emphasis which seemed to say, "Oh, _that_ boy! He doesn't count."

The Captain interpreted the emphasis and resented it.

"Just let me tell you, little Miss Disdain, he's a lad not to be sneezed
at. He's come back the likeliest young man in all these parts."

Again Mary shrugged her shoulders and smiled unbelievingly. Her
recollection of Pink Upham was of a big red-faced fellow overgrown and
awkward, with a disgusting habit of twisting every one's remarks into
puns, and of uttering trite truths with the air of just having
discovered them. The warning whirr of a clock about to strike made her
spring down from the stool with an exclamation of surprise.

"I had no idea I was staying so long. I've an errand at the store too,
so I'll have to hurry."

"Well, I'll see that your letter gets started all right," he assured
her. "You can't expect an answer before ten days at the earliest, can
you?"

She turned back from the door and stood, considering. "I had counted it
at about that, but I didn't think--if they wa