“To-night?” he questioned.
“No, not to-night; but very soon, I think.”
Uncle Joe seemed neither surprised, nor impressed. “Humph,” he grunted, knocking the ashes from his pipe. “Well, I reckon it’s all right back East—for them that like it.”
His reception of her news rather daunted Blue Bonnet, and she went at a slower pace through the wide center hall to the front veranda, where her uncle sat.
“Uncle Cliff,” she asked, giving him the letters, “you mean—I’m to go?”
Mr. Ashe shifted the letters from one hand to the other for a moment, without speaking; then he said gravely, “Yes, you’re to go, Elizabeth. When a girl hates the ranch, hates everything the life here stands for, and is afraid to ride, I don’t see that there’s anything left to do—but send her East.”
Blue Bonnet dropped down on the upper step, the quick color flooding her face. To go East was one thing—but to be sent! She sat very still for a few moments, looking out over the broad, level prairie.
Her uncle was the first to speak.
“I suppose you’d best get started pretty soon; there’ll be some fixing up to do after you get there.”
“Am I going alone?” Blue Bonnet asked.