shall be known as Pat. Your name, sir, is
Pat -- P-a-t -- Pat! I don't know whether you like
it or not, of course! But I do know that I like it,
and under the circumstances I reckon that's all
that is necessary." Then came the tears. "But
that isn't all, Pat dear," she went on, tenderly.
"I have something else to tell you, though it hurts
dreadfully for me to do it. But -- but I'm going
away to school. I'm going East, to be gone a long
time. I want to go, though," she added, gazing
soberly into his eyes; "yet I am afraid to leave
you alone with Miguel. Miguel doesn't like to
have you around, and I know it, and I am afraid
he will be cruel to you. But -- but I've got to go
now. The dressmaker has been coming for over
a month; and -- and I'm not even coming home
for vacation. I am to visit relatives, or something,
in New York -- or somewhere -- and the whole
thing is arranged. But I -- I don't seem to
want -- to -- to go away now!" Which was where the tears
fell. "If things -- things could only be -- be put
off! But I -- I know they can't!" She was silent,
silent a long time, gazing off toward the distant
mountains through tear-bedimmed eyes. "But
when I do come back," she concluded, finally,
brightening, "you will have grown to a great
size, Pat dear, and then we can go up on the mesa
and ride and ride. Can't we?" And she hugged
him convulsively. "It will be glorious. Won't
it?"

He didn't exactly say. His interest was elsewhere,
and, resisting her hugging, he began to

[[44]]

p043 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p044w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p045

v?