d for their home until a big house could
be put up.

Both Fred and Jack were on the lookout for them. Evelyn saw them waving
their hats and she waved her parasol in return. They reached the house
about the time that the carriage did, and of course, as Fred lifted her
out of the carriage he caught Evelyn in his arms and kissed her several
times. Jack seized her hand and kissed it, saying:

"Heavens, Miss Evelyn, but I am glad to see you way down here."

"Thank you, Jack," said Evelyn.

Then she turned and glanced around at the wild prairies on either side
of the railroad track.

"Evelyn," said Fred, "come in and see the little home we have fixed up
for you," and he led her up on the little piazza and into the two rooms
that had been furnished up for her.

Of course, she recognized the carpet, because she had chosen it herself
up in Crabtree, and also every piece of furniture.

"Oh, my, how beautiful!" she exclaimed. "But how out of place such
furniture in a ranch house! I dare say there is not another so
beautifully furnished as this is in the State of Texas."

"No," said Fred, "nor is there another house in all Texas with such a
beautiful mistress to reign over it."

She laughed and seemed pleased with the compliment.

As soon as she could throw off her hat and light coat she said:

"Now, Fred, let me see the kitchen and the dining-room."

"All right. This leads into the dining-room," so she went in there and
seemed equally pleased with its furnishings and then she looked into the
china closet and found two complete sets of china dishes.

Then she went into the kitchen, where Fred and Terry had set up a
first-class range to take the place of the wide-open fireplace which
Jack had been using. The carpenters had built a splendid closet for all
the cooking utensils. There were all the necessary tables and chairs
there in the kitchen. She went to the sink and, turning the faucet, saw
a splendid flow of water.

"Why, where in the world does this water come from?" she asked, very
much surprised.

"Oh, that is one of Jack's ideas," replied Fred. "While we were away he
got permission from the superintendent of the railroad to run a pipe
from the railroad company's tank, some three hundred yards away, and
thus provided for a supply of water for household purposes as well as a
bathroom. Those are New York ideas which he brought out here with him,
and people who have visited the premises wondered what the Yankee