Christine caught her. “No, it’s a surprise.” “I smell them. Flapjacks.” “And what else?” Christine wheeled her round and displayed a plate of fruit cake and a dish of preserved figs prepared after the fashion of the country. “Where did you get them?” asked Alison. “What a feast we shall have.” “I brought the cake from home, I have saved it all this time, and the figs Lolita presented to us. I thought this evening we needed something to ’liven us up and so I unsealed my stone crock of cake and Louisa offered to make the flapjacks.” Christine refrained from asking Alison anything concerning her afternoon, and they ate their little feast, each the stronger because of helping the other to face the sacrifice which John’s going meant. Matters went on quietly for a week after this. Alison improved the opportunity to increase her knowledge of Spanish, while Lolita’s English was added to in like proportion. This mutual desire to learn brought the two younger girls often together, and as Lolita had her own duties to perform Alison sometimes offered to help, that the little Mexican might be free to run out of doors with her. They were so great a contrast that Christine smiled to see them together; Alison tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed, white of skin, slight of figure; Lolita scarce up to Alison’s shoulder, her long dark tresses reaching below her waist, her melting brown eyes fringed by long lashes, her skin pale and colorless, her little figure already rounded and plump as that of a more mature person. That Alison should run wild with the daughter of a Greaser whose life had been spent in a mud adobe, would hardly have been countenanced by Aunt Miranda Brown, and, indeed, it was probable that it would not have been approved by John and his friend Neal Jordan, though the latter was hail-fellow-well-met with every newcomer in the county. But, democratic though he was, Neal Jordan possessed the pride of his Southern ancestors and while the daughter of the old Mexican wagoner might be his partner at a fandango he would have discountenanced her intimate friendship with the sister of his friend, Texas John. Alison, however, had no brother and no Neal at hand to criticise, and while the Spanish she acquired was hardly pure Castilian, the vocabulary was such as would serve her well in Texas and she enjoyed learning from Lolita other things besides words. She would squat down by her side and help her prepare tortillas and frijoles for Pedro’s dinner; she learned how to drape a reboso gracefully around her, how to ride a Texas mustang, while various other accomplishments were added to her list. She found time to practice at the round white mark Neal had made upon the fence, and the crack of her rifle was heard daily. Christine and Louisa, too, joined in the target practice, but as neither was enthusiastic in preparing food _à la Mexicaine_ they were perfectly willing that Alison should carry off the honors in that direction.