"You be hanged! I don't mean that kind. I mean—"
"The nice kind, like Mrs. Hope and your cousin. Well, I'm agreed."
"I shall go down after the mail to-morrow," remarked Clarence, between the puffs of his pipe.
"So shall I."
"All right; come along!" But though the words sounded hearty, the tone rather belied them. Clarence was a little puzzled by and did not quite like this newborn enthusiasm on the part of his comrade.
CHAPTER IX.
OVER A PASS.
rue to their resolve, the young heads of the High Valley Ranch rode together to St. Helen's next day,—ostensibly to get their letters; in reality to call on their late departed guests. They talked amicably as they went; but unconsciously each was watching the other's mood and speech. To like the same girl makes young men curiously observant of each other.