David Bright, who had overheard the conversation, now stepped forward, and said, "Let the child go with us, Esther, if those who have reared him consent." Both Mr. and Mrs. Keith, who stood near him, signified their willingness. The party then entered the Pullman, and a few minutes later, the train drew out from the station. Esther and Wathemah went to the rear platform, and watched till a turn in the road hid their friends from their sight. After a time Kenneth joined them. "Tears, Esther?" he said, lifting her face. "But not of sorrow," she returned. He put an arm around each, and they stood looking down upon the majesty of the scene through which they were passing. One looking back to that moment, would say it had been prophetic of the future. The man of power, destined to become a determining factor in the development of the great Southwest; the woman at his side, great of heart and brain and soul; and this little prince of the Rockies, with his splendid heritage of courage, destined to be the educational leader of his race. And it was this woman of vision, who, during the years that were to come, saw clearly the great work her husband and foster son might do, and nerved them for it by her faith in the work, and their power to do it. CHAPTER XXIV AFTERMATH It was a substantial stone house, built against the mountainside, overlooking a picturesque canyon. A woman sat on the broad veranda. Occasionally, she turned her head, and looked down the mountain road, listening as though expecting some one. Then she walked down the path, and stood watching. A little five-year-old girl joined her, flitting about like a sprite. "Will father come soon, mother?" she asked. "I hope so, Edith. He said he would come to-day." There was a far away look in the mother's eyes. "Why _doesn't_ father come?" the child continued. "Oh, he has been a long way, and has traveled many days, dear. Something may have happened to detain him." "What could have happened, mother?" the little one asked. "Oh, business, or the rails might have spread, or there might have been a washout, or a landslide." The mother again looked down the road. Then she walked slowly back to the veranda and took up her sewing. The child leaned against her knee. "Mother, when you were a little girl, did you have any little girls to play with?" "No. I had just my dear grandfather." "Then you know how lonely I am, mother. It's pretty hard to be a little girl and all alone." "Do you think you are alone, little daughter, when you have father, and aunt Carla, and mother?" "But you are big, mother, don't you see? When a little girl hasn't any other little boys and girls to play with, the world's a pretty lonesome place." The mother sighed. The child rested her chin in her dainty hands, and looked up through her long lashes into her mother's eyes. "I have been thinking, mother." The child was given to confidences, especially with her mother.