Then Mrs. Hutter returned, carrying a tray, which she set upon a chair,

and drew to Carley's side. "Eat an' drink," she said, as if these

actions were the cardinally important ones of life. "Flo, you carry her

bags up to that west room we always give to some particular person

we want to love Lolomi." Next she threw sticks of wood upon the fire,

making it crackle and blaze, then seated herself near Carley and beamed

upon her.

"You'll not mind if we call you Carley?" she asked, eagerly.

"Oh, indeed no! I--I'd like it," returned Carley, made to feel friendly

and at home in spite of herself.

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"You see it's not as if you were just a stranger," went on Mrs. Hutter.

"Tom--that's Flo's father--took a likin' to Glenn Kilbourne when he

first came to Oak Creek over a year ago. I wonder if you all know how

sick that soldier boy was.... Well, he lay on his back for two solid

weeks--in the room we're givin' you. An' I for one didn't think he'd

ever get up. But he did. An' he got better. An' after a while he went

to work for Tom. Then six months an' more ago he invested in the sheep

business with Tom. He lived with us until he built his cabin up West

Fork. He an' Flo have run together a good deal, an' naturally he told

her about you. So you see you're not a stranger. An' we want you to feel

you're with friends."

"I thank you, Mrs. Hutter," replied Carley, feelingly. "I never could

thank you enough for being good to Glenn. I did not know he was so--so

sick. At first he wrote but seldom."

"Reckon he never wrote you or told you what he did in the war," declared

Mrs. Hutter.

"Indeed he never did!"

"Well, I'll tell you some day. For Tom found out all about him. Got some

of it from a soldier who came to Flagstaff for lung trouble. He'd been

in the same company with Glenn. We didn't know this boy's name while he

was in Flagstaff. But later Tom found out. John Henderson. He was only

twenty-two, a fine lad. An' he died in Phoenix. We tried to get him

out here. But the boy wouldn't live on charity. He was always expectin'

money--a war bonus, whatever that was. It didn't come. He was a clerk at

the El Tovar for a while. Then he came to Flagstaff. But it was too cold

an' he stayed there too long."




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