"Well, no; I don't think she is. It was a sort of mistake; I'll tell you
about it sometime. But she likes to imagine that she's taking care of me;
and as it does no harm, I let her."

"Taking care of you! Great thunder! I wouldn't trust her to take care of a
blue-eyed kitten," observed the irreverent Clarence. "Well, I'll ride up
and settle with the Hopes, and stop and let you know as I come back."

Mrs. Hope and the doctor were not hard to persuade. In Colorado, people
keep their lamps of enjoyment filled and trimmed, so to speak, and their
travelling energies ready girt about them, and easily adopt any plan which
promises pleasure. The following day was fixed for the start, and Clover
packed her valise and Phil's bag, with a sense of exhilaration and escape.
She was, in truth, getting very tired of the exactions of Mrs. Watson.
Mrs. Watson, on her part, did not at all approve of the excursion.

"I think," she said, swelling with offended dignity, "that your cousin
didn't know much about politeness when he left me out of his invitation
and asked Mrs. Hope instead. Yes, I know; the doctor had to go up anyway.
That may be true, and it may not; but it doesn't alter the case. What am I
to do, I should like to know, if the valves of my heart don't open, or
don't shut--whichever it is--while I'm left all alone here among
strangers?"

"Send for Dr. Hope," suggested Phil. "He'll only be gone one night. Clover
doesn't know anything about valves."

"My cousin lives in a rather rough way, I imagine," interposed Clover,
with a reproving look at Phil. "He would hardly like to ask a stranger and
an invalid to his house, when he might not be able to make her