"
"I shall see you very soon," said Geoff, on the other side. "Clarence is
not coming without me, I can assure you."
Then the carriage drove away; and the two partners went back into the
house, which looked suddenly empty and deserted.
"I'll tell you what!" began Clarence.
"And I'll tell _you_ what!" rejoined Geoff.
"A house isn't worth a red cent which hasn't a woman in it."
"You might ride down and ask Miss Perkins to step up and adorn our lives,"
said his friend, grimly. Miss Perkins was a particularly rigid spinster
who taught a school six miles distant, and for whom Clarence entertained a
particular distaste.
"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.
True 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.
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