But Custer was laughing and teasing again. He would not tell her. He thought it would be amusing if she didn’t know that he was Raquel’s brother. Lois was unaccountably radiant. Custer was a charmer, she thought. And he was entranced. “Looks like fate that I should meet you,” he told her. Mr. Wainwright spoke to him then and they talked for some time of the cattle country, its present condition, and the war. Mr. Wainwright told of their Christmas visit to the A. B. Meyers ranch. He spoke of investment. Custer listened politely but this information somewhat chilled the atmosphere, and spoiled the ride a bit for him. They were nearing the city and the rest of the drive was made with little conversation. Reaching a filling station they stopped and Custer turned to say good-by. Mr. Wainwright held out his card. “I hope that we shall see you again when we get back to El Paso in the spring. We leave in the morning for California, but we’ll be back. I am very grateful indeed to you for setting us right.” “Thank you, sir. I am Custer Daniels, and if ever I can be of service to you I should be proud. Only sorry it wasn’t Los Ranchos you called at instead of the Diamond Bar, Meyers’ place. You must come out when you get back this way.” Lois had been leaning forward, smiling graciously. While Custer spoke a puzzled expression flashed across her face. Then with realization came distress. Something stirred her, something that had long lain unheeded. Custer turned and held out his hand. “My sister would be right glad to see you again, Miss Lois,” he smiled. The unaccountable Lois suddenly became strangely distant. Quite self-possessed and exquisite she looked, her gray squirrel coat drawn up about a coolly tilted chin. “We probably shan’t have time on our return, thank you.” She did not dare to meet Custer’s eyes, yet she could not withhold her hand from the hand held out to her. A limp enough hand it was that lay for a moment in Custer’s firm clasp. He gazed after the disappearing car with surprise and bafflement. Now, what was wrong with that? Custer shrugged his shoulders and climbed back into his own car. It was a let-down to the high-spirited mood of the day. Was it because he was Raquel’s brother that she acted like that? CHAPTER IX THE BLIZZARD When it is bright, sunshiny weather, the cold out West is not so penetrating, at least by day, but at night it eats into the very bones. There were long evenings of hard, dry cold, and occasionally a flurry of snow, when Raquel sat opposite Georgie and prodded him on to his lessons. They had had no more letters from Dad and the boys. Mom, silent and undemanding, spent her time in little services for Raquel and Georgie. The great house was never overly clean, nor even tidy, except for the kitchen. There had been so much drudgery, and Mom was one of the army of western women who grow weary of struggling against the ceaseless invasion of desert dust even into the top shelves of the closets.