Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net THE RANCH GIRLS SERIES The Ranch Girls and Their Heart's Desire BY MARGARET VANDERCOOK ILLUSTRATED BY WILSON V. CHAMBERS THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY PHILADELPHIA Copyright, 1920, by THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO. [Illustration: BEFORE LEAVING, SHE EXPLAINED TO THE OLD HALF-INDIAN WOMAN THAT SHE WOULD NOT RETURN UNTIL DINNER TIME] CONTENTS I. THE BRANCH OF THE TREE 9 II. THE YOUNGER SET 20 III. OLD PASTIMES 32 IV. A FORMER ACQUAINTANCE 47 V. JEAN, OLIVE AND FRIEDA 58 VI. JEAN AND RALPH MERRITT 75 VII. THE TEA PARTY 91 VIII. AN INTERVIEW 104 IX. A YEAR LATER 117 X. A MAIDEN SPEECH 129 XI. THE PROPOSALS 140 XII. A DECISION 152 XIII. THE CAMPAIGN 169 XIV. IN THE THICK OF THE FIGHT 178 XV. CONSEQUENCES 192 XVI. THE ELECTION 204 XVII. THE HEART'S DESIRE 217 ILLUSTRATIONS BEFORE LEAVING SHE EXPLAINED THAT SHE WOULD NOT RETURN BEFORE DINNER TIME _Frontispiece_ WITH A SINGLE SWIFT MOTION SHE LIFTED LITTLE PEACE INTO THE SADDLE 72 JACK REINED IN HER HORSE AND SAT STILL, SILHOUETTED AGAINST THE SKY 149 NOT A BOUQUET OF FLOWERS BUT OF EVIL-SMELLING WEEDS AND TIED WITH A RAG INSTEAD OF A RIBBON 186 The Ranch Girls and Their Heart's Desire CHAPTER I THE BRANCH OF THE TREE Across a wide prairie a man and woman were riding side by side at an hour approaching twilight on a September afternoon. Moving slowly they appeared to be studying the landscape. Toward the west the sky was banked with gold and rose and purple clouds, while the earth revealed the same colors in the yellow sand of the desert spaces, the wide fields of purple clover, and the second blooming of the prairie roses.