“Oh, Miss Stone!”
“Do call me Jess. ‘Miss Stone’ is so stiff. And you and I are going to be the very best of friends.”
“I really hope so, Jess. But you must call me Helen, too,” said the girl from Sunset Ranch.
Jess leaned out from her saddle, putting the horses so close that the trappings rubbed, and kissed the Western girl resoundingly on the cheek.
“I just loved you!” said the warm-hearted creature, “when Dud first told me about you. But now that I see you in the flesh, I love you for your very own self! I hope you’ll love me, too, Helen Morrell—And you won’t mind if I talk a good deal?”
“HERE’S THE VERY NICEST GIRL WHO EVER CAME OUT OF MONTANA.”
(Page 246.)
“Not in the least!” laughed Helen. “And I do love you already. I am so, so glad that you and Dud both like me,” she added, “for my cousins do not like me at all, and I have been very unhappy since coming to New York.”
“Here we are!” cried Jess, without noting closely what her new friend said. “And there is Dud waiting for us on the porch. Dear old Dud! Whatever should I have done if you hadn’t got him out of that tree-top, Helen?”