“That’s just like you, Ned. You never can understand what a flavor it gives to something that really is to consider first all the things that it isn’t.”
“Well, you’ve had the flavor, now you can give me the fact. I’ve wondered myself why she was so gracious about coming with us.”
“Yes; wasn’t it surprising? It puzzled me so that I couldn’t give up thinking about it until I solved the mystery.”
“And aren’t you going to let me into the secret?”
“Of course I am, Ned; that’s what I’m doing right now! I studied about it on the way here, and I managed to find out a lot of things it wasn’t. But I didn’t discover what it was till after we reached the ranch.”
“Well, what did you find out then?”
“Why, Ned, I’m telling you just as fast as I can! Although I think I know Lena pretty well, and am quite accustomed to her doing things that nobody else would think of, really, Ned, I was so surprised at this freak that you could have knocked me down with a feather!”
Ned Castleton looked caressingly at the slender, graceful figure of his wife, erect upon her horse, and smiled broadly. “Fanny, I’m in that condition right now, from unassuaged curiosity. Please knock me down with a feather and then go on and tell me this deep, dark secret.”
She tickled his cheek with her quirt. “Why, Ned, I’ve been telling you all about it for the last five minutes, but you won’t understand what I mean. It’s all because she’s immensely taken with your handsome superintendent, and she’s deeply interested in the cattle business because she wants him to explain it to her!”
Castleton gave an incredulous laugh. “Nonsense, Francisquita! You are a clever woman, my dear, especially when it comes to divining what your dearly beloved sister-in-law is planning to do year after next. But you two women do get most remarkable notions about each other sometimes.”