e of the catalpa tree and stretched his
legs, cramped from a long day in the saddle. The indolent gaze of his
black eyes roved over her approvingly before shifting to the shadowy
beauty of the valley and the orange-hued sky beyond, and a silence fell
between them.

"I was thinking to-day," the girl said presently, "that you've been so
busy since your return you haven't had time to call on any of your old
friends."

"That is true, Miss Parker."

"You _have_ called me Kay," she reminded him. "Wherefore this sudden
formality, Don Mike?"

"My name is Miguel. You're right, Kay. Fortunately, all of my friends
called on me when I was in the hospital, and at that time I took pains
to remind them that my social activities would be limited for at least
a year."

"Two of your friends called on mother and me today, Miguel."

"Anita Sepulvida and her mother?"

"Yes. She's adorable."

"They visited me in hospital. Very old friends--very dear friends. I
asked them to call on you and your mother. I wanted you to know Anita."

"She's the most beautiful and charming girl I have ever met."

"She _is_ beautiful and charming. Her family, like mine, had become
more or less decayed about the time I enlisted, but fortunately her
mother had a quarter section of land down in Ventura County and when a
wild-cat oil operator on adjacent land brought in a splendid well,
Senora Sepulvida was enabled to dispose of her land at a thousand
dollars an acre and a royalty of one-eighth on all of the oil produced.
The first well drilled was a success and in a few years the Sepulvida
family will be far wealthier than it ever was. Meanwhile their ranch
here has been saved from loss by foreclosure. Old Don Juan, Anita's
father, is dead."

"Anita is the only child, is she not?"

He nodded. "Ma Sepulvida is a lady of the old school," he continued.
"Very dignified, very proud of her distinguished descent--"

"And very fond of you," Kay interrupted.

"Always was, Kay. She's an old peach. Came to the hospital and cried
over me and wanted to loan me enough money to lift the mortgage on my
ranch."

"Then--then--your problem is--solved," Kay found difficulty in voicing
the sentence.

He nodded. She turned her face away that he might not see the pallor
that overspread it. "It is a very great comfort to me," he resumed
presently, "to realize that the world is not altogether barren of love
and kindness."

"It must be," she murmured,