"Of course she isn't anything like Anne Stewart--there never was any girl like her! But you make a big mistake if you go away to find a pretty girl, all dolled up like the Movie Queens, for your wife. She'd take all your money and laugh at you the next moment. "I've lived in big cities, Jeb, and seen a lot of the ways of pretty girls who dress up and pose for the boys, but not one of that kind is worth a shake. Take it from me, Jeb, you'd be happy and contented if you had a ranch of your own, and a sensible wife to make you toe the mark. You're too easy for any other sort, Jeb, although you figure that you need an ideal. Not so, my man!" Jeb heaved a mighty sigh as if he was passing on his rainbow dreams forever. Then he turned sorrowful eyes on John. "Wall, Ah cain't fergit that pooty gal in a hurry, even when Sary heaves in sight wid a heaped plate of puddin' fer me. Ah s'pose Ah'll hev to let _her_ marry me, er git out to onct. Sence yuh've ben talkin', Ah have a sort of weakenin' fer her capable ways, and shore ez shootin', she'll grab the first chanst Ah gives her to know the wust, because this is leap-year." John shouted with laughter again, and Tom Latimer turned back his horse to ask what the joke was about. "Nothing that concerns little boys like you, Tom," laughed John, as he winked at his friend. "But I feel sure I can be of help to Jeb as well as to you, John," insisted Tom. "No, Mis'r Tom. It's all over," sighed Jeb, in a funereal tone. "Ah've made up mah mind to take the med'cine, er beat it!" With that, Jeb spurred his horse on and joined his master, leaving John to merely hint at the great trouble that almost disrupted the household at Pebbly Pit. "Now, thank Heavens, I have saved the ranch from ruin, and united two hearts that ought to beat as one, hereafter!" Tom laughed. "I'm glad you confessed to your profession. I'll be wary of your match-making, in the future." "But you have to find matches before you can make them," laughed John. "You are so blind that you only see one pretty girl at Pebbly Pit, whereas there are four!" exclaimed Tom, smilingly. "Four! Anne Stewart is one, and Miss Maynard may _consider_ herself lovely enough for a match--I don't. But mother and Sary will never consent to your including them in your match-making." "Hah! I thought so! You are so blind over Anne Stewart, that you fail to see how your own little sister is growing up to be a stunning miss. Why, she will be a beauty at twenty, for she is on the high-way there already." "Tom!" gasped John. "Wh-y--Polly is only a child!" "That's what all brothers think of their pretty sisters. Some day, a fine young fellow will think differently, and you'll want to club him. But the trouble is, that Polly will think exactly as the handsome man thinks, and she will not listen to her big brother's advice to remain a little girl.