two on the left, and another large window near the bedstead.
Looking out from where she lay, Madeline saw a dark, slow
up-sweep of mountain. Her eyes returned to the cheery, snapping
fire, and she watched it while gathering courage to get up. The
room was cold. When she did slip her bare feet out upon the
stone floor she very quickly put them back under the warm
blankets. And she was still in bed trying to pluck up her
courage when, with a knock on the door and a cheerful greeting,
Florence entered, carrying steaming hot water.

"Good mawnin', Miss Hammond. Hope you slept well. You sure were
tired last night. I imagine you'll find this old rancho house as
cold as a barn. It'll warm up directly. Al's gone with the boys
and Bill. We're to ride down on the range after a while when
your baggage comes."

Florence wore a woolen blouse with a scarf round her neck, a
short corduroy divided skirt, and boots; and while she talked she
energetically heaped up the burning wood in the fireplace, and
laid Madeline's clothes at the foot of the bed, and heated a rug
and put that on the floor by the bedside. And lastly, with a
sweet, direct smile, she said:

"Al told me--and I sure saw myself--that you weren't used to
being without your maid. Will you let me help you?"

"Thank you, I am going to be my own maid for a while. I expect I
do appear a very helpless individual, but really I do not feel
so. Perhaps I have had just a little too much waiting on."