"Thank you, sir. Nothing would please me more, but it is quite out of the question. I must go back this afternoon. I have a service in Bolo this evening." "You must be a busy man," observed Mr. Hartley, genially. The minister sighed. "I am--yet I can't do half that I want to. This outside work among the ranches I shall try to carry on as best I can. But you're all so afraid you'll have a neighbor nearer than a score of miles," he added with a whimsical smile, "that I can't get among you very often." It was after dinner that the minister chanced to hear Genevieve speak of herself as a Happy Hexagon. "Hexagon?--Hexagon?" he echoed smilingly. "And are you, too, a Happy Hexagon?" he asked, turning to the mistress of the Six Star Ranch. "Why, yes. Do you mean you know another one?" questioned the girl, all interest immediately. "It's the name of our girls' club--the Hexagon Club." "No, but I heard of one, once," rejoined the man. "And it isn't usual, you know, so it attracted my attention." "But where was it? When was it? We supposed we were the only Happy Hexagons in the world," cried Genevieve. The minister smiled. "I found my Happy Hexagons at the bottom of a letter from the East." "A letter from the East?" Genevieve's voice held now a curious note of wild unbelief. "Yes. It came before we moved to Bolo. My elder daughter was teaching in the East, and was taken ill. Some of her girls wrote to us." Genevieve sprang to her feet. "Are you--you can't be--the Rev. Luke Jones!" she cried. "That is my name." "And is Quentina your daughter?" It was the minister's turn to look amazed. "Why, yes; but--how do you know? Are you--you can't be--_my_ Happy Hexagons!" he ejaculated. She nodded laughingly. She spoke, too; but what she said was not heard. All of the Happy Hexagons were talking by that time. The Rev. Mr. Jones, indeed, found himself besieged on all sides with eager questions and amazed comments. Under cover of the confusion, Mr. Hartley turned in puzzled wonder to Mrs. Kennedy. "_Will_ you tell me what all this is about?" he begged. Mrs. Kennedy smiled. "Of course! I think perhaps it is all new to you. Last winter Miss Alice Jones, a Texas lady and the girls' Latin teacher, was taken ill. The girls were very attentive, and did lots of little things for her; but she grew worse and had to leave. Just before she went, the mother wrote a letter thanking the girls, and in the letter was a note signed 'Quentina Jones.' Quentina was a younger sister, it seemed, and she, too, wished to thank the girls. Of course the girls were delighted, and immediately answered it, signing themselves 'The Happy Hexagons.' The teacher went away then, and the girls heard nothing more. But they have talked of Quentina Jones ever since." "But it's all so wonderful," cried Genevieve, her voice rising dominant at last. "Where is Miss Alice Jones, and how is she?" "She is better, thank you, though not very strong yet. She is teaching in Colorado."