“What did you do?” Betsy inquired.
“Rubbed the poor little gums with a sterilized thimble till the wee teeth poked through,” Virginia replied.
Barbara was eager to be away and so the very next morning, while it was still cool, they rode to the North, promising Malcolm to return in a fortnight.
Peyton, expecting them, had ridden a few miles southward to meet them and joyous was the reunion between the brother and sister, but it was at Virginia’s side that the lad was soon riding.
The old ranch house which they were approaching (and which Mr. Wente had purchased from the Dartleys), was one of the most picturesque on the desert. It was a large Spanish adobe built around an inner court over which were hanging balconies. The windows were barred; wide verandas surrounded it on all sides, and each room had a door opening thereon. A clump of cottonwood trees grew around a water-hole in the door-yard. The house was very old and in some places the adobe walls were crumbling.
Mr. Dartley had been too poor to repair it, and Peyton, since he had acquired it, had been too much occupied with the cattle he had purchased to attend to renovating the house.
“What a wonderful old place it is,” Virginia said as she smiled at the lad.
“It looks wonderful to me,” he replied, “because I keep hoping that someday it will be your home as well as mine.”
Before the girl could reply, Babs galloped up alongside. “Oh Virg,” she said with sparkling eyes. “I just know I’m going to love this old place. If only there were blossoming vines climbing over the veranda, wouldn’t it be beautiful?”
It was hard for the maiden addressed to think of vines just then, but she smilingly replied, “Yes, dear, I am sure they would. Your well is never dry and anything will grow on the desert if it is well watered.”