Here, at the bottom of the canyon, like a sapphire set amid diamonds, a little lake appeared in the midst of hollowed-out stones.
Jeanette, who had been in the lead, dropped down first, making a cup of her hand.
"I am sure this water must be fresh and pure. How can it be otherwise in such a place? Suppose we drink first and then let the ponies drink. Afterwards we must eat the few sandwiches we have left and be merry. If we do not see father and our new and reverend stepmother"—Jeanette made a little grimace—"before bedtime, why, the misfortune is four times more her own than ours! It does seem absurd for father to have married some one so much younger than himself! He was her guardian, as we know, years before his marriage to our own mother. Personally, I don't believe in second marriages."
Jeanette's attention was now demanded. She held the reins of the two younger girls' ponies while they satisfied their thirst.
Five minutes later the four girls were seated in characteristic attitudes about the edge of the small lake. The ponies, glad to enjoy a brief rest, stood tethered to the forks of bushes that grew out of what seemed solid rock.
Olivia was leaning her fair head against Jeanette's strong young shoulder, a wistful droop to her figure.
Jeanette sat upright, her white teeth closing firmly on a sandwich. Her gray-blue eyes were looking down into the heart of the water. A strange mixture, Jeanette! She possessed an adventurous outdoor nature and yet now and then was oddly given to dreaming.
More intimate with her father and more his companion in the management of Rainbow Ranch than any one of her sisters, Jeanette resented his marriage more than the others.
"I wish, Jeanette dear, that you would not feel so unhappy over the future," Via murmured. The two girls had special names for each other that only a few outside persons employed. "After all, father is the person to consider! If he thinks that it is best for us to spend this summer together at the ranch making friends with our new mother, it need not last forever! If you wish, you and Lina some day can go away to school. Eda and I will be able to survive, I suppose, although it will be hard."
Olivia leaned over and let her slim hand sink into the bright water.