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Helen Rayner dropped her knitting into her lap and sat pensively gazing out of theover the bare yellow ranges of her uncle's ranch

The winter day was bright, but steely, and the wind that whipped down froe A scant snow lay in protected places; cattle stood bunched in the lee of ridges; low sheets of dust scurried across the flats

The big living-room of the ranch-house are stone fireplace where cedar logs blazed, and its many-colored blankets Bo Rayner sat before the fire, curled up in an armchair, absorbed in a book On the floor lay the hound Pedro, his racy, fine head stretched toward the warmth

"Did uncle call?" asked Helen, with a start out of her reverie

"I didn't hear him," replied Bo

Helen rose to tiptoe across the floor, and, softly parting some curtains, she looked into the room where her uncle lay He was asleep Sometimes he called out in his sluroeaker With a sigh Helen returned to her -seat and took up her work

"Bo, the sun is bright," she said "The days are growing longer I' tih," replied the sister

"But I love spring and suuess I hate winter," returned Helen, thoughtfully

The yellow ranges rolled away up to the black ridges and they in turn swept up to the cold, white o beyond that snowy barrier And Bo's keen eyes studied her sister's earnest, sad face

"Nell, do you ever think of Dale?" she queried, suddenly

The question startled Helen A slow blush suffused neck and cheek

"Of course," she replied, as if surprised that Bo should ask such a thing

"I--I shouldn't have asked that," said Bo, softly, and then bent again over her book

Helen gazed tenderly at that bright, bowed head In this swift-flying, eventful, busy winter, during which the ement of the ranch had devolved wholly upon Helen, the little sister had groay from her Bo had insisted upon her own free will and she had followed it, to the amusement of her uncle, to the concern of Helen, to the dismay and bewilder of all the youngfor a favorable hour in which she ht find this wilful sister onceinfluence But while she hesitated to speak, slow footsteps and a jingle of spurs sounded without, and then cahtly and ran to open the door