"I really truly mean it, Honey. Life's too short for these long separations." Round his neck, in a close embrace, went Blue Bonnet's arms, and her face glowed with joy. "But we're not going to give up the ranch altogether, Uncle Cliff? We couldn't, you know!" "No, not altogether, Honey. I reckon the summers will find us there pretty regularly; and there's Gabriel now, remember. We can't desert the little fellow when he needs us so." "We wouldn't desert the Blue Bonnet ranch anyway--under any circumstances. We'll just be commuters, and sort of vibrate between our old home and the new--then we'll all be happy." CHAPTER XX THE JUNIOR SPREAD Blue Bonnet, after her week at Woodford, found it difficult to accustom herself to the strict discipline, the regular hours, the stated duties that awaited her at school. "I feel as if I'd been sailing in an airship and had just got back to earth," she said to Annabel Jackson who was diligently pursuing a French lesson. "How _can_ you dig in that way, Annabel, after all the exciting times you had at home? I can't! I'd like to drop this old geometry into the Red Sea." "I've _got_ to dig," Annabel replied complacently. "It isn't such an easy thing to graduate from Miss North's as some people think. I've earned every inch of the little sheepskin I'll carry home next June, I can tell you--if I'm lucky enough to get it." Blue Bonnet stifled a yawn. "Oh, you'll get it, Annabel. You're a shark at lessons. What are you going to do next year?" Annabel looked out of the window dreamily. "I don't know yet. Mother has given me the choice between a year's travel and a college course. Father wants me to come home and renew my acquaintance with the family. I think--perhaps--I'll take his advice. This is the fourth year I've been away. A long time, isn't it?" "Indeed it is! Will you go into society? Have a coming-out party and all that?" "I hardly think so. In the South we don't come out; we grow out! I can't remember when I went to my first party; along with my dolls, I reckon." "I suppose that's why you are always so at ease in company. You aren't the least bit self conscious." Annabel closed her book and stealing over to Blue Bonnet put an arm about her lovingly. "Flatterer!" she said. "No such thing. I never flatter. I admire you awfully! You know I do." "Thank you, Blue Bonnet. I believe you mean it. You're the most truthful person I know. Now! There's a compliment for you."