"Sacred--? Is that one of the orders of nuns?"
"None whatever," she punned. In the same moment she drew a most solemn looking face. "My deah Mistah Ashton, I will have you to understand my reference was to that most select coterie which comprises Denver's Real Society."
"Indeed!" he said, with a subtle alteration in his tone and manner. "You say that your aunt is one of--"
"I am not Daddy's natural daughter. He adopted me," explained the girl in her frank way.
"Yes?" asked Ashton, plainly eager to learn more of her history.
Without seeming to observe this, she adroitly balked his curiosity--"So, you see, Daddy's sister is only my aunt by adoption. Still, she has been very, very good to me; though I love Daddy and this free outdoor life so much that I insist on coming back home every spring."
"Ah, yes, I see," he replied. "Really, Miss Knowles, you must think me a good deal of a dub."
"Oh, well, allowances should be made for a tenderfoot," she bantered.
"At least I recognized your queenliness, even if at first I did mistake what you were queen of," he thrust back.
"So you still insist I'm a queen? Of what, pray?"
His daring was rewarded with a lovely blush. But she was only momentarily disconcerted.
"I am not so sure of that," she replied. "Though it's not Queen of Spades, because I do not have to work; and it can't be Diamonds, because Daddy is no more than comfortably well to do--only six thousand head of stock. But as for Hearts--No, I'm sure it must be Clubs; I do so love to knock around. Really, if ever they break up this range, it will break my heart same time."
"Put it under irrigation and turn it into orchards and farms, as they have done so many places here on the Western Slope. You know, Colorado apples and peaches are fast becoming famous even in Europe."
"I do not wonder, not in the least--if I am to judge from a certain sample of the Colorado peach," he ventured.
This time she did not blush. "I am quite serious, Mr. Ashton," she reproved him. "Daddy owns only five sections. The rest of his range is public land. If settlers should come in and homestead it, he would have to quit the cattle business. You cannot realize how fearfully we are watching the irrigation projects--all the Government reclamation work, and the private dams, too. There seems to be no water that can be put on Dry Mesa, yet the engineers are doing such wonderful things these days."