y."

"Whew! I should think she would be," laughed Mr. Hartley. "Only fancy
having to be called 'Clorinda Dorinda' whenever you were wanted!"

"Sounds like a rhyming dictionary to me," chuckled Tilly. "'Clorinda,
Dorinda, Lucinda, Miranda,'" she chanted.

Mr. Hartley laughed, and walked off.

"Well, I'll leave her to you, anyhow, whatever she is," he called back.

"I'll bet he's just dying to go with us, all the same," whispered Tilly,
saucily.

Cordelia frowned, hesitated, then spoke.

"Auntie says ladies don't bet," she observed, in her severest manner.

"Oh, don't they?" snapped Tilly; then she, too, frowned, and hesitated.
"All right, Cordy--Cordelia; see that you don't do it, then," she
concluded good-naturedly.

Monday was a very quiet day for the girls at the ranch. Mrs. Kennedy had
insisted from the first upon this. She said that the next two days would
be quite exciting enough to call for all the rest possible beforehand.
So, except for the usual watching of the boys' morning start to work,
there was little but music, books, and letter-writing allowed.

Tuesday dawned clear, but very warm. The girls were all awake at
sunrise, and were soon ready for the early breakfast. Almost at once,
afterward, they stowed themselves--with little crowding but much
giggling--in the carriage, and called gayly to Carlos: "We're all
ready!"

"Yes, we're all aboard, Carlos," cried Genevieve.

"Good, Senorita! It is ver' glad I am to see you so prompt to the
halter," grinned Carlos. "_Quien sabe?_--mebbe I didn't reckon on
corrallin' the whole bunch of you so soon!"

Genevieve laughed, even while she made a wry face.

"I'm afraid Carlos remembers that I was never on time, girls," she
pouted. "But you don't know, Carlos, what a marvel of promptness I've
become back East--specially since somebody gave me a watch," she
finished, smiling into the old man's face.

"All ready!" grinned Carlos, climbing into his seat.

"Let's give our Texas yell," proposed Tilly, softly, as she looked back
to see Mrs. Kennedy, Mr. Hartley, and Mammy Lindy on the gallery steps.
"Now count, Cordelia!"

And Cordelia did count. Once again her face expressed a tragedy of
responsibility, and once again the resulting

"Texas, Texas, Tex--Tex--Texas!
Texas, Texas, Rah! Rah! Rah!
GENEVIEVE!"

was the glorious success it ought to have been. So to a responsive
chorus of shouts, laughter, and hand-clapping, the