Olive reached out her arms toward her vision of the lights of Rainbow Lodge. She was either too blind or too utterly spent to see the snowbank in front of her, as suddenly it shut out her mirage of home. The girl gave a cry of despair with all the feeble strength that was left in her and tumbled headlong into the cold embrace of the snow. But the snow was no longer cold. It was strangely warm and she was shut away from the cruel winds. CHAPTER XXIII. JACK IS HAPPY. "CHILLUNS, it's time for bed," Cousin Ruth announced softly. "Frieda has been asleep in my arms for the last ten minutes. Perhaps I can tumble her in bed without waking her, she is so frightened at the storm." Jean glanced up at the clock over the living-room mantle. "Do let's wait a little while longer?" she begged. "I am just at the most thrilling part of my book and I am bound to finish it before I go to bed. Jack, you stay here with me, if Cousin Ruth is going with Frieda. I don't like to sit up alone. This storm is a terror! Listen how the wind howls down the chimney. I hope our stock won't be frozen to death to-night." Ruth led Frieda gently out of the sitting-room while Jack got up and wandered to the window. But the frost covered the glass. She scratched a little space away with a hairpin, but there was nothing to see outside save the snow. Jack walked restlessly up and down the room for a minute. It was just nine o'clock and she did not feel like going to bed. She could not read as Jean was doing. These terrible western storms, that came once or twice every winter, always filled her with foreboding. Jack was too good a rancher not to understand that they caused great suffering and loss among the cattle. The rude corrals, which the ranchmen built for their stock, could not save them on a night like this. Jack dropped down on her knees before their book shelves and began to look over the collection of volumes that had once belonged to her father. The books were the same ones that Jean had found in her uncle's trunk and brought to the living-room to impress their new governess on the day of her arrival at Rainbow Lodge. Shep got up from his warm place by the fire and trotted over to lie down by Jack, seeming to know that she was worried and wishing to offer her his subtle sympathy. Jack turned over the pages of half a dozen books, shaking them, so that every leaf fluttered apart. Jean glanced over at her cousin. Jack was quieter and older than ever to-night. "What are you doing, Jack, want me to help you?" Jean asked lovingly. "No, Jean, I am not doing anything special," Jack replied quietly. "I am just killing time." But Jean knew that her cousin was searching once more for the lost title deed to Rainbow Ranch and she had gone to the window to gaze out on the snow with the thought of Olive on her mind. Even light-hearted Jean sighed. It was only a few days before Christmas.