It was evident to them that Kenneth's transformation had begun. John Clayton knew that important changes were taking place in his daily life; that all his social life was spent in their home; that he had ceased to enter a saloon; and that he had suddenly become fastidious about his toilet. If Esther noted any changes in him, she did not express it. She was singularly reticent in regard to him. At this moment, she sat listening to him as he told her of the mountain flora. "Wait till you see the cactus blossoms in the spring and summer." He seemed very enthusiastic. "They make a glorious mass of color against the soft gray of the dry grass, or soil." "I'd love to see them." She lifted the bunch of asters admiringly. "I have some water colors of cacti I made a year ago. I'd like to show them to you, Miss Bright, if you are interested." She assured him she was. "I was out in the region of Colorado River a year ago. It is a wonderful region no white man has yet explored. Only the Indians know of its greatness. I have an idea that when that region is explored by some scientist, he will discover that canyon to be the greatest marvel of the world. What I saw was on a stupendous, magnificent scale." "How it must have impressed you!" "Wonderfully! I'll show you a sketch I made of a bit of what I found. It may suggest the magnificence of the coloring to you." "How did you happen to have sketching materials with you?" "I agreed to write a series of articles for an English magazine, and wished illustrations for one of the articles." "How accomplished you are!" she exclaimed. "A mining engineer, a painter, an author--" "Don't!" he protested, raising a deprecatory hand. Having launched on the natural wonders of Arizona, he grew more and more eloquent, till Esther's imagination made a daring leap, and she looked down the gigantic gorge he pictured to her, over great acres of massive rock formation, like the splendor of successive day-dawns hardened into stone, and saw gigantic forms chiseled by ages of erosion. "Do you ride horseback, Miss Bright?" he asked, suddenly changing the conversation. "I am sorry to say that I do not. I do not even know how to mount." "Let me teach you to ride," he said, with sudden interest. "You would find me an awkward pupil," she responded, rising. "I am willing to wager that I should not. When may I have the pleasure of giving you the first lesson?" "Any time convenient for you when I am not teaching." She began to gather up her flowers and hat. Then and there, a day was set for the first lesson in horsemanship. "Sit down, please," said Kenneth. "I want you to enlighten me. I am painfully dense." She seated herself on the tree trunk again, saying as she did so: "I had not observed any conspicuous signs of density on your part, Mr. Hastings, save that you think I could be metamorphosed into a horsewoman. Some women are born to the saddle. I was not. I am not an Englishwoman, you see."