Francisquita turned a contemplative eye upon the forest of crimson-flowered cactus through which they were riding. "Well, I don't know that I can do anything--still, Lena's methods are always so--broad! I suppose I might try, if you'd like me to. It might have some effect if I stepped in right away--you wouldn't mind it, would you, Ned?--and did a little flirting with Mr. Conrad on my own account; not very much, you know; but I could manage to keep him busy about things--oh, you understand!--just make it pleasant for him to be with me. Really, Ned, Lena hasn't much chance if I start even with her; we've tried it before--you remember--I told you all about it at the time--and I think she'll quit right away and want to go home, or somewhere, as soon as she sees what I'm doing." Castleton laughed aloud. "And poor Conrad! What's to become of him in the midst of all these sighs and glances?" She threw him a smiling glance, and broke into a little, low laugh. "Oh, he won't mind! He's no silly! And he doesn't care anything about the ladies, anyway." "But suppose, Fanny," her husband teased, "that he should prefer Lena's methods after all, and cast himself at her feet instead of yours?" She shrugged her shoulders and turned toward him with a smile trembling at the corners of her mouth. "Oh, in that case he would quite deserve to lose his position." "But what about me? Should I deserve to lose him?" She tapped her horse and darted ahead, throwing back a laughing retort: "Of course you would, for not having married a more attractive wife!" Later in the day Mrs. Ned Castleton was busily engaged with Curtis Conrad and his brother Homer in the grove of cottonwoods across the road from the ranch house, showing them where to hang the last of the Japanese lanterns. Many people had already arrived and were scattered through the grove, or were wandering about the corral. Others were in the stockade behind the house, where Red Jack, Nosey Ike, and José Gonzalez were quartering the steer for the barbecue, and Hank Peters and Texas Bill were heaping wood on the fire where it was to be roasted. In the grove long tables had been made of planks and a floor laid for dancing. The lanterns hung in festoons around the platform and depended from the branches of the trees. Conrad saw Bancroft, Lucy, and Miss Dent driving up, and went to meet them. Mrs. Ned Castleton beckoned to her husband. "I'm sure Lena is going to do something perfectly outrageous," she said softly as they went to greet the arrivals, "something that will fairly knock us off our feet. She has looked so indifferent and so innocent all day and has been so sweet to me that I'm expecting a thunder clap every minute. I hope it won't be anything disgraceful."