A SUDDEN REALIZATION
When Malcolm entered the ranch living-room, his sister Virginia told
him of the newspaper article which they had discovered. “That’s
great news!” he exclaimed, “We must convey it to the one most
interested as soon as we can. Let me see. This is Tuesday. Perhaps
by day after tomorrow I can arrange things here so that I can ride
into Douglas. There I can telephone to the postoffice at Red
Riverton and possibly get in touch with some one from the Wilson
ranch.”
“Oh brother! Two whole days! I could send a letter in less time than
that,” Virginia protested.
“But, of what use would a letter be if it were left lying in the
postoffice for no one knows how long?” Margaret remarked. “Tom
wrote, you remember, that their mail is not often called for.”
“You are right,” Virginia agreed as she returned to her sewing, “but
I am so impatient to have Tom learn this glorious news.”
“But Sis, why are you so sure that the article refers to our Tom?”
Malcolm asked as he glanced from the paper which he had been
reading.
“True, it does describe him and yet this same description would fit
a dozen other fair young men. There is nothing unusual about it, and
we have no reason to think that his last name is Wentworth, have
we?”
“Oh, Virg, we never told Malcolm about that letter, did we?”
Margaret exclaimed, and then, turning to the curious lad, she
explained about the scratched out name, the first initial of which
had been faintly visible.
“That does seem like almost conclusive evidence,” Malcolm declared.
“Well, I sincerely hope that you are right,” he added, “for I liked
Tom’s frank, pleasant face the moment I saw him on Second Peak with
you girls and even after he had declared that he was an outlaw. I
still liked and trusted him.”
“Brother,” Virg said a few moments later as she dropped her sewing
in her lap and looked up, “if Tom wishes to do so, may he return
here and live with us? Before he left he told us that his week at V.
M. had been the happiest bit of home life that he had had since his
own mother died.”
“Why, of course he may return if he wishes,” Malcolm said in his
hearty way. “I need someone to remain on the ranch when I am gone.
Slim and Lucky are splendid fellows, but they do not care to assume
the entire responsibility during my absence. Tom has had greater
advantages, and, though he may not know as much about cattle, he is
intelligent enough to learn in short order.”
Then glancing at the clock, Malcolm added, “The hour is nine and if
I am to do two days’ work in one tomorrow that I may be free the
next, I must hie me to my slumbers.”
The lad bade them goodnight and started to leave the room, but he
turned at the door and said, “The mountain road is in bad condition,
otherwise I would ask you young ladies to accompany me to Douglas on
Tuesday, but I fear it would not be safe for our Rollabout, and it
is too far for Margaret to ride.”
That maiden looked up eagerly. “Oh Malcolm, I do wish you would let
me try riding Star into Douglas. If Virg can, surely I can also.”
“Good!” the lad declared, “I shall indeed be glad to have your
company.”
The girls visited for half an hour longer, and then they too
retired. Virginia felt strangely eager and excited.
The next day the two girls gave the ranch house a thorough cleaning.
“Time goes much faster if one keeps every minute of it occupied,”
Virginia had declared, “and the spring cleaning is due, so let’s go
at it.”
When Malcolm and Lucky came in for the noon repast, they laughed to
see the two young housekeepers in all-over gingham aprons with
pretty dust-caps on their heads, wielding broom and brush in so
vigorous a manner.
“You boys will have to lunch alone today,” Margaret told them, “for
we girls must finish sweeping the living-room and then while we
dine, the dust will be settling.”
The boys pretended to be greatly disappointed, but that night at
dinner Virg and Margaret made up for their seeming neglect. They
dressed in their prettiest house gowns and laughed and chattered,
making the meal a merry one.
“How everything shines!” Malcolm declared as he looked at the
glistening glass and silver. “You aren’t expecting company, are you,
Sis?”
“Of course not!” Virginia replied. “You know we always go over the
house this way every spring and fall and many times in between.”
Later in the evening when the cow-boy had gone to the bunkhouse and
the three young people sat about the library table, the girls
sewing, and Malcolm reading a cattleman’s magazine, Virg suddenly
exclaimed, “Just think Megsy, tomorrow Tom is to know the wonderful
news. How I wish that he might be able to leave the sheep ranch
right away and come back to us. I do hope that he has not entered
into an agreement of any sort promising to remain with Mr. Wilson
for a definite length of time.”
The girl, happening to glance up just then, found the kind, gray
eyes of her brother earnestly regarding her. “Do you care so much
about Tom’s coming, Virginia?” Malcolm asked. Then fearing that his
question would be an embarrassing one for his sister to answer (for
he had noted the sudden rose in her cheeks) he hurriedly added, “I,
too, will be glad to see Tom. I believe he will be free to come
whenever he wishes.”
After that Malcolm seemed to read on, apparently deeply absorbed in
the articles in his magazine, but in reality he did not even see the
printed page for he had suddenly realized that his sister was a
little girl no longer, that indeed she was verging on young
womanhood, and that some day, perhaps soon, she would care more for
someone else than she did for him; she might even go somewhere else
to live and leave him alone on the V. M. Ranch.
After about half an hour of vain endeavor to grasp the meaning of
the scientific article, Malcolm closed the magazine and, looking up,
caught an amused twinkle in Margaret’s violet eyes and saw the
dimple that he had always thought the prettiest thing a girl could
possess.
Leaning over Megsy said merrily, “Malcolm, hand me that magazine! I
am going to give you an oral exam in what you have read. You have
been staring at one page for so long, I think you must have been
memorizing the commas.”
Malcolm laughed and said irrelevantly, “Thank you for darning my
socks, Mistress Megsy. I see you have one now in your nimble
fingers.”
Then, rising, he added, “Nine o’clock, girls, and I want you to be
ready for the saddle by five tomorrow morning. It’s a long, hard
ride to Douglas and back. Good night.”
The girls soon heard him whistling in another part of the house.
A sudden glad hope had awakened in Malcolm’s consciousness. Perhaps,
just perhaps, he might not have to live alone after all.