Susie was not widely experienced in matters of sentiment, but she had her feminine intuitions, besides remarkably well-developed reasoning powers for her years. Why, she asked herself as she continued to stare through the crack, why should Teacher be cherishing that old bait-box? Why should she have it there among her handkerchiefs and smelly silk things, and the soft lace things she wore at her throat? Why--unless she attached value to it? Why--unless it was a romantic and sacred keepsake? Susie rather prided herself on being in touch with all that went on, and now she had an uneasy feeling that she might have missed something. She remembered the day of their fishing trip well, and at the time had thought she had scented a budding romance. Had they quarrelled, she wondered? She sat on the edge of the bed and swung her feet. "My, but won't it seem lonesome here without Mr. Ralston?" Susie sighed deeply. "Is he going away?" Dora asked quickly. "He'll be goin' pretty soon now, because he's found most of his strays and bought all the ponies he wants." "I suppose he will be glad to get back among his friends." Susie thought Teacher looked a little pale. "Maybe he'll go back and get married." "Did he say so?" Susie was _sure_ she was paler. "No," she replied nonchalantly. "I just thought so, because anybody that's as good-looking as he is, gets gobbled up quick. Don't you think he is good-looking?" "Oh, he does very well." "Gee whiz, I wish he'd ask me to marry him!" said Susie unblushingly. "You couldn't see me for dust, the way I'd travel. But there's no danger. Look at them there skinny arms!" "Susie! What grammar!" "Those there skinny arms." "Those." "Those skinny arms; those hair; those eyes--soft and gentle like a couple of augers, Meeteetse says." Susie shook her head in mock despondency. "I've tried to be beautiful, too. Once I cut a piece out of a newspaper that told how you could get rosy cheeks. It gave all the different things to put in, so I sent off and got 'em. I mixed 'em like it said and rubbed it on my face. There wasn't any mistake about my rosy cheeks, but you ought to have seen the blisters on my cheek-bones--big as dollars!" "I'm sure you will not be so thin when you are older," Dora said consolingly, "and your hair would be a very pretty color if only you would wear a hat and take a little care of it." Susie shook her head and sighed again. "Oh, it will be too late then, for he will be snapped up by some of those stylish town girls. You see." Dora put buttons in her shirt-waist sleeves in silence. "I think he liked to stay here until you quarrelled with him." "I quarrelled with him?" "Oh, didn't you?" Susie was innocence itself. "You treat him so polite, I thought you must have quarrelled--such a chilly polite," she explained. "I don't think _he_ has observed it," Dora answered coldly. "Oh, yes, he has." Susie waited discreetly. "How do you know?"