"Well, I think that might be a whole lot worse!" she cried cheerfully, when he had finished detailing the situation. "I thought when you came in to-night that your best friend had died, at least. I never did like your fussing with those two hotels. They took too much of your time and money, both of which you could have spent to much better advantage on the ranch. That, to my mind, has been the whole trouble. The ranch would have done much better for a little attention. You've simply fallen between two stools."
"I believe you're right!" cried the Colonel, brightening.
"Of course I'm right!" insisted Allie, stoutly.
The Colonel thought of some of the figures.
"We will have to economize," he said.
"Then we'll economize. That won't kill us."
The Colonel passed in rapid review the different activities of the ranch, all rendered almost sacred by long custom.
"I don't believe I know how," he said.
V
About this time Patrick Boyd suggested at supper that he would like a little talk with his son. So the two adjourned to the "den" with the leather armchairs.
"What I want to see you about is your going into some sort of business," began Boyd. "We agreed last spring that every young man worth his salt should be active in life; and we rather placed the vacation limit for the fall. It is now nearly mid-winter, and we don't seem to have made much of a start. Mind you, I'm not blaming you. And there is of course no harm done, for a man can loaf more busily in this country than any place I know. But we ought to begin to think about it."
"I have been thinking about it, Dad," replied Kenneth, unexpectedly. "Don't think I've just been sliding along. Ever since we came back from San Francisco I've been collecting ideas and making up my mind. I think I've decided."
"What."
"Ranching."
Boyd puffed for a few minutes in silence.
