"How is the boy by this time?" General Trent asked. "I--I don't know," Blue Bonnet stammered. It was quite true; she had given up trying to guess the state of Alec's health. The horizontal line between the General's eyes grew deeper: it was plain that the girl shrank from telling him the worst. Alec had started to descend the ladder when he caught sight of the approaching pair. For a second he stood transfixed with surprise; then with a real cowboy "whoop" of joy, took a flying leap from his perch, cleared various obstacles with a bound, and literally fell upon his grandfather. "How splendid of you to come, sir!" was all he could exclaim for some minutes. Finally the General took him by the shoulders and held him off, looking him over from head to foot. Blue Bonnet saw a look of incredulous wonder grow in his eyes, as he took in the increased breadth of the boy, the erect carriage and the red that glowed through the sunburn of his rounded cheeks. "Why, boy, how you've grown!" "Have I?" asked Alec eagerly. "Never felt so well before in all my life!" Well? Blue Bonnet felt her face grow hot. How could Alec say that when he had let her--even urged her--to write that letter to his grandfather? If it was a joke, it struck her that Alec must have developed rather poor taste in jokes. She could feel the General's eyes upon her, questioning mutely. She could not meet his glance yet, and said with elaborate carelessness: "I reckon you two would like to have a little talk, and the girls are waiting for me." She sped back to the house, and soon forgot her indignation in the joy of the We are Sevens' reunion. "It seems too good to be true!" she exclaimed, gazing happily from one girl to another, as the seven of them lounged about the living-room, three on the broad couch and the rest distributed impartially between the floor and the window-seat. Such complete informality had never seemed permissible in the sedate Clyde mansion; but somehow these surroundings seemed to invite one to be as comfortable and unconventional as possible. Suddenly Blue Bonnet's eyes danced. "Doesn't this remind you of my first tea-party?" she asked demurely. "Well, I should say not!" Kitty exclaimed. "We all sat around your grandmother's drawing-room with manners as stiff as our dresses, waiting for our hostess--" "And wondering what you would be like--" added Sarah. "Were you prepared to see the wild Indian I proved to be?" "Fishing!" sang Kitty. Susy looked from Blue Bonnet to Kitty and laughed. "My, this sounds like old times!" "Stop talking about old times, please," begged Ruth, "and tell us about the new ones. I want to be told all about the round-up, and I want to see the 'vast herds' and the cowboys,--and the blue bonnets!"