keview Hall. Nor did she overlook Nan's part in bringing her into th

od, ordinary student who stood well enough in her classes to satisfy

d not interest her much. She was an outdoors girl herself, and had stored up such immense vitality and

"butterfingers." Laura, who captained one of the scrub teams,

court and did their best to teach her tennis. She learne

pass away the time. Batting a little ball about with a snowshoe, she calls it! And if she misses a stroke, w

laughed Nan. "R

terfingers,'" Amelia said

ning down here, when she might be using her spare time upstairs re

mates during those two long and dreary months, February and March, when

s who might drop in and talk. If Rhoda herself talked, it was almost always about Rose Ranc

the East to the vicinity of the Mexican Border to conduct a school. Her eyes had be

so kind and good to her, I guess, when she had to give up teaching, that she just fell in love with him. Yo

e lot better than mother doe

ped Nan. "Fancy! Your own mothe

She 'sees' with the end of every finger and thumb. It is quite wonderful how much she lear

a little shudder. "It wo

. Old Cherrypie seems to know she can't see a

y all about her home, the acres upon acres of wild roses in the near-by canyons, the rugged gulches and patches of desert

ovely place, that Rose Ranch

Nan Sherwood. You must go home with me when school is over. O

never could go so far," Nan sai

mas holidays in Chicago with Grace. And before that, you say, you went up to a lumber camp i

tle lo

To going to China, f

rse you can go

from them during the past year. But she received fine reports regarding her mother's health and Papa Sherwood's new automobile business; and litt

ever. The snow under the hedges disappeared alm

Hall boatward. The outdoor tennis courts, the croquet grounds, the basketball enclosure, and the cinder track

r brother Walter and his tutor were at the summer home a short distance from Lakeview Hall, where he was

r since the holidays; but now he came for Grace

ckled pony Grace was to ride. The pony was a nervous, excita

on used to th

But the pony can't be any worse than t

atter with him?" as

rited. You never know

hoda said. "He looks all right to me. But that little flea-bitten

sked Lillie Nevins, Grace's chum, wh

ut I mean that probably she is skittish-will shy at the least li

uld leave them there alone beside

oped the reins of the grey over the pommel of his ow

horse and ride with t

you just ache to

he girl from Rose Ranch. "I w

rom far down the nearest court. It whizzed over the

g eye leaped and snorted, all four feet in the air at once

ff Prince's saddlehorn in that first jump. Then she was away like the wind, her little hoofs spurning the gravel of the path th

elf down the steep flight. Frightened animals

oofs. But the horror and wild despair of the group at the edge of t

he field was a group of the smaller girls at play. There were almost thirty of the little girls

hen they did realize their peril they milled for a min

il of the girls become apparent, when Rhoda Hammond leaped into a

g. She was astride the snorting horse and her feet instinctively soug

ustom about Lakeview Hall. But, almost standing erect as Prince thundered across the athletic field, Rhoda seemed per

hair snapped out behind her in the wind; her set face, visible to a few of the spectators, gave them co

s reins were gathered loosely in her right hand. The shrieking children were huddled right b

's. And he answered the rein perfectly. Rhoda rode to the right of the grey,

ys, and the runaway crossed her forefeet and crashed to the

out of the saddle, had run to seize the pony's bridle before th