Jo Bennington slept late. She had been up late. She had danced often and she had waited for Thaine's homecoming. Yet, when she came downstairs in a white morning dress all sprinkled with little pink sprays, there was hardly a hint of weariness in her young face or in her quick footsteps. "I'm glad you stayed, Jo," Mrs. Aydelot greeted her. "This is 'the morning after the night before,' and, as usual, the desertions equal the wounded and imprisoned. Asher and the men had to go across the river early to look after the fences and washouts on the lower quarter. And Rosie Gimpke decided to go home this morning as soon as breakfast was done. So it is left for us to get the house over the party. Not so easy as getting ready for it, especially without help." "Where's Thaine?" Jo asked carelessly, though her face was a tattler. "He took some colts over to John Jacobs' ranch. He had Rosie ride one and he rode another and led two. They were a sight. I hoped you might see them go by your window. Thaine had his hat stuck on like a Dutchman's and he puffed himself out and made up a regular Wyker face as he jogged along. And Rosie plumped herself down on that capering colt as though she shifted all responsibility for accidents upon it. The more it pranced about, the firmer she sat and the less concerned she was. I heard Thaine calling out, 'Breakers ahead!' as he watched her bring it back into the road in front of him with a sort of side kick of her foot." "What made Gimpke leave?" Jo asked, to cover her disappointment. "She cut her hand badly last night. She insisted at first that she would help me today and go home later to stay till it gets well. Then she suddenly changed her mind. Possibly it was the spare-room bed," Virginia said laughing. "When I told her not to wake you when she made up the other beds, she suddenly got homesick, her hand grew worse and she flew the premises. I'll run up and attend to that bed while you finish your breakfast," and Virginia left the room. At that moment young Todd Stewart appeared on the side porch before the dining room door. "Thaine stopped long enough to ask me to come over and move furniture for his mother," Todd sang out. "He doesn't think you were made to lift cupboards and carry chairs downstairs." "Oh, it's his mother he's thinking about," Jo said with pretty petulance. In truth, she was angry with Thaine for taking Leigh home last night and for leaving home today. "No, it's his mother he's ceased to love," Todd said, coming inside. "He said he'd quit the old home and was moving his goods up to Wolf Creek for keeps. And with that fat tow-headed Gimpke girl sitting on the frisky bay colt as unconcerned as a bump on a log, it was the funniest sight I ever saw." Jo tossed her head contemptuously. "Say, Curly Locks, Curly Locks, you ought to always sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam and wear a dress to breakfast with those little pink du-dads scattered over it."