you each a pretty coffee-cup."

It was a merry meal. The pleasant look of the room, the little surprises,
and the refreshment of seeing new and kindly faces, raised Mr.
Templestowe's spirits, and warmed him out of his reserve. He grew cheerful
and friendly. Clarence was in uproarious spirits, and Phil even worse. It
seemed as if the air of the High Valley had got into his head.

Dr. Hope left at noon, after making a second visit to the lame herder, and
Mrs. Hope and Clover settled themselves for a week of enjoyment. They were
alone for hours every day, while their young hosts were off on the ranch,
and they devoted part of this time to various useful and decorative arts.
They took all manner of liberties, poked about and rummaged, mended,
sponged, assorted, and felt themselves completely mistresses of the
situation. A note to Marian Chase brought up a big parcel by stage to the
Ute Valley, four miles away, from which it was fetched over by a cow-boy
on horseback; and Clover worked away busily at scrim curtains for the
windows, while Mrs. Hope shaped a slip cover of gay chintz for the
shabbiest of the armchairs, hemmed a great square of gold-colored canton
flannel for the bare, unsightly table, and made a bright red pincushion
apiece for the bachelor quarters. The sitting-room took on quite a new
aspect, and every added touch gave immense satisfaction to "the boys," as
Mrs. Hope called them, who thoroughly enjoyed the effect of these
ministrations, though they had not the least idea how to produce it
themselves.

Creature comforts were not forgotten. The two ladies amused themselves
with experiments in cookery. The herders brought a basket of wild
raspberries, and Clover turned them into jam for winter use. Clarence
gloated over the little white pots, and was never tired of counting them.