The Cattle-Baron's Daughter

of the Grand Central Depot she could find. It was by her own wish she had spent the afternoon in the city unattended, for Miss Torrance was a self-reliant young woman; b

to an eminent modiste had occupied most of her leisure. There was, she had reasons for surmising, a decision of some moment to be made

owd, but a letter from her father, Torrance, the Cattle-Baron, of Cedar Range. It was te

re made men and women, and if you had been meant to live alone dabbling in music you wouldn't have been given your mother's face. Now, I don't often express myself this way, but I've had a letter from Captain Jackson Cheyne, U. S. Cavalry, which reads as straight as I've found the man to be. Nothing wrong with that family, and the

rpose, and when she slipped the letter

y like him; but whether Jake is the righ

the faint warmth in her cheeks emphasized the clear pallor of her skin, and there was a depth of brightness in the dark eyes that would have atoned for a good deal more than there was in her case necessity for. Her supple slenderness also became Hetty Torrance well, and there was a suggestion of nervous energy in her very pose. In addition to all this, she was a rich man's daughter,

but, responsive to the throb of life as she usually was, Hetty Torrance heard nothing of it then, for she was back in fancy on the grey-white prairie two thousand miles away. It was a desolate land of parched grass and bitter lakes with beaches dusty with al

he prairie sun. It was a quietly forceful face, with steady eyes, which had a little sparkle of pleasure in them, and were clear and brown, while something in the man's sinewy pose suggested that he would have been at home in the saddle. Indeed, it was i

y!" h

irl. "Why, whatever

pon them, for a meeting between former comrades has its difficulties when one

said the man. "Ran round to check some p

ty, and came here to meet Flo Schuyler

fifteen minutes, but it's not going to be enough

le. "Larry," she said, "you a

in his smile. "Your father told me a little; but I haven't se

f quivers in her voice, "the folks who und

is companion, in the man's face, but h

n't do," he said decisivel

, Larry. Any way, lots of people sing better than I do, bu

gain I'm glad. Now there's nothing to keep you in the city, you'll come b

es when, looking back in reverie, she saw the great silent prairie roll back under the red sunrise into the east, and fade, vast, solemn, and restful, a cool land of shadow, when the first pale stars came out. The

she said. "There is always o

sed at it; but he was, as she had once told him in t

that there are very few of us good enough f

mit herself. "How are they

our father

ter from him a few days ago, but he seldom mentioned w

three months since I spoke to him. He was stirring round a

to be always

him did not escape the girl. "Still, I don't go there

ow-haired, with the stamp of acquiescent patience in their homely faces, they came on with the swing, but none of the usual spirit, of drilled men. They asked no questions, but went where they were led, and the foulness of the close-packed steerage seemed to cling about them. For a time the depot rang to the rhythmic tramp of fe

ith you. Tell him to give them all he h

dren sat still, undemonstratively astonished, with t

he top of the line," he said. "If that doesn't s

," she said, "that was dreadfully good

t of Castle Garden, and it's because of the city improvements disorganizing traffic they're b

nd Finns, but all with the stamp of toil, and many with that of scarcity upon them. Bedraggled, unkempt, dejected, eag

nd, even in our big country, have we

e it as a home for the poor-the folks they've no food or use for back yonder; and, while there are short-sighted fools who would close the door, we take the

in her smile; for she had a quick enthusiasm, and the reti

these people coming in

don't seem to know that men are worth more than millionaires. We have let them get their grip on our industries, and too much of our land, un

, it seems to me that other men have talked like that quite a thousand years ago; and, while I don't know anyone b

nd the change is beginning there. Is it good for this country that one man should get rich feedi

y you and my father haven't got on. Yo

they would; and that's just why we've got to convince him and th

an wants to believe anything is good when he sees it

ul belongings along with them, and the murmur of their alien voices rang through the bustle of the station. Hetty Torrance was not unduly fanciful, but those footsteps caused her, as she afterwards remembered, a vague concern. She believed, as her father did, that America was made for the Americans; but it was evident that in a few more years every unit of those incoming legion

another kind came in, and two young women in light dresses swung themselves down from the platform of a car th

show you two of the nicest

have been nicer if they hadn'

ora and Miss Caroline Schuyler. "Larry Grant of Fremont Ran

ieter. Although they were gracious to him, Grant fancied that one flashed a questioning glance at the other when there was a halt in the conve

ting, but you'll come

ow," said the man. "When

ulness in her eyes. "I don't quite know. Just now I fancy

Torrance appeared to find something disconcert

ll forget you. Well, if ever you grow tired of the cities you will remember the

nd her companions noticed there was a faint pink tinge in her cheeks when she rejoined them. But

side the second emigrant train vacantly glancing at the aliens who thronged about it. His bronzed face was a trifle we

id, "and it's going to