Jack walked restlessly up and down the room for a minute. It was just nine o'clock and she did not feel like going to bed. She could not read as Jean was doing. These terrible western storms, that came once or twice every winter, always filled her with foreboding. Jack was too good a rancher not to understand that they caused great suffering and loss among the cattle. The rude corrals, which the ranchmen built for their stock, could not save them on a night like this.
Jack dropped down on her knees before their book shelves and began to look over the collection of volumes that had once belonged to her father. The books were the same ones that Jean had found in her uncle's trunk and brought to the living-room to impress their new governess on the day of her arrival at Rainbow Lodge. Shep got up from his warm place by the fire and trotted over to lie down by Jack, seeming to know that she was worried and wishing to offer her his subtle sympathy.
Jack turned over the pages of half a dozen books, shaking them, so that every leaf fluttered apart.
Jean glanced over at her cousin. Jack was quieter and older than ever to-night. "What are you doing, Jack, want me to help you?" Jean asked lovingly.
"No, Jean, I am not doing anything special," Jack replied quietly. "I am just killing time."
But Jean knew that her cousin was searching once more for the lost title deed to Rainbow Ranch and she had gone to the window to gaze out on the snow with the thought of Olive on her mind. Even light-hearted Jean sighed. It was only a few days before Christmas.
Jack was getting up off the floor, when a sound startled her. She jumped quickly to her feet. Old Shep gave a long howl.
"What is the matter with you, Jacqueline Ralston?" Jean demanded pettishly, partly because she had just been so sorry for Jack. "You almost scared me out of my wits."
Jack was pointing toward the window. "I heard a noise outside in the snow," she exclaimed excitedly.
"You did no such thing, Jack, it's only the wind howling. It has been making a racket for the last four hours. I don't see why you are so surprised all of a sudden. I heard nothing unusual," Jean protested.