barred by a foothill couldn't be expected to know much of the main range and what's beyond." "There isn't any danger of my falling in love with anybody," said Enid at last, with all the confidence of two triumphant social seasons. "I think I must be immune even to dukes," she said gayly. "I referred to worthy young Americans of—" began her father who, to do him justice, was so satisfied with his own position that no foreign title 'dazzled' him in the least degree. "Rittenhouse Square," cut in Robert Maitland with amused sarcasm. "Well, Enid, you seem to have run the gamut of the east pretty thoroughly, come out and spend the summer with me in Colorado. My Denver house is open to you, we have a ranch amid the foothills, or if you are[Pg 37] game we can break away from civilization entirely and find some unexplored, unknown cañon in the heart of the mountains and camp there. We'll get back to nature, which seems to be impossible in Philadelphia, and you will see things and learn things that you will never see or learn anywhere else. It'll do you good, too; from what I hear, you have been going the pace and those cheeks of yours are a little too pale for so splendid a girl, you look too tired under the eyes for youth and beauty." [Pg 37] "I believe I am not very fit," said the girl, "and if father will permit—" "Of course, of course," said Stephen Maitland. "You are your own mistress anyway, and having no mother"—Enid's mother had died in her infancy—"I suppose that I could not interfere or object if I wished to, but no marrying or giving in marriage: Remember that." "Nonsense, father," answered the young woman lightly. "I am not anxious to assume the bonds of wedlock." "Well, that settles it," said Robert Maitland. "We'll give you a royal good time. I must run up to New York and Boston for a few days, but I shall be back in a week and I can pick you up then." "What is the house in Denver, is it er—may[Pg 38] I ask, provided with all modern conveniences and—" began the elder Maitland nervously. [Pg 38] Robert Maitland laughed. "What do you take us for, Steve? Do you ever read the western newspapers?"
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