“Was he your brother, little girl?”
“No. I haven’t any brother. I haven’t anybody but Jim, that has known me always, seems if, and—and dear Doctor, won’t you please, please find him?”
Clasping her hands about his arm she looked up piteously into his face, and his own grew pitiful as he answered:
“I will do my utmost. What I hope is that he will wander back, of his own will, just as he wandered away. Be sure I shall keep a sharp lookout, but it is Mr. Ford’s wish that I do not leave the home-place till—at present. If he is found, I mean when he is found, he will need my care and it wouldn’t do for me to be away then. Else I should have gone out with one of the searching parties.”
That “when he is found” was reassuring. Evidently, the doctor expected the speedy return of the lad and all were relieved, even Dorothy. Alfaretta expressed her own feeling by saying:
“Out here in this Colorado, seems if there wasn’t anything but folks gettin’ lost and other folks searching for ’em. I never heard anything like it,” she finished with a sigh.
The sigh was echoed by all the rest; then Mrs. Ford suggested:
“Let us have luncheon now, then call on Lemuel to give us our first lesson in rifle-firing.” She assumed a cheerfulness she did not really feel, but felt that the happiness of so many should not be spoiled by the absence of one.
“Oh! Lady Gray, will you practice with us?” asked Leslie, eagerly.