"If she doesn't hear you," said Seaforth, "she must be very deaf."

"Now," said Alton regretfully, "I never thought of that. Sit right
down, Charley, and take your boots off."

"I am going to the well first," said Seaforth, who retired grinning,
and Miss Deringham laughed softly as she heard the cautious movements
of a big barefooted man floundering about clumsily with a brush or mop.

When she came down to breakfast, however, she was a little astonished.
The room was swept, and garnished with cedar sprays, while though it
smelled of some crude soap the aromatic sweetness of balsam was present
too, and there were signs of taste in its decoration and the
disposition of the splendid fruit upon the table. Alton had not
plucked it all, and the golden apples and velvety peaches lay with
their soft tinting enhanced amidst the leaves. When he came in, bright
of eye and apparently glowing from a plunge in the river, she glanced
at him with quiet amusement.

"You have been improving the place wonderfully," she said.

"You are pleased with it?" said the rancher, and the girl noticed the
contentment in his eyes when she smiled approvingly.

"I think," she said, "it is very pretty."