Aunt Janes Nieces and Uncle John | Page 9

with her trip that
the soft bed enthralled her for many hours after daybreak.
Patsy finally aroused her, opening the blinds to let in the sunshine and
then sitting beside Myrtle's bed to stroke her fair hair and tell her it was
nearly noon.
"But my train!" wailed the girl, greatly distressed.
"Oh, the train has gone hours ago. But never mind that, dear. Uncle
John has telegraphed to Leadville and found that Anson Jones is not
there. He left months ago, and is now wandering; in fields and pastures
unknown."
Myrtle sat up in bed and glared at Patsy wild-eyed.
"Gone!" she said. "Gone! Then what am I to do?"
"I can't imagine, dear," said Patsy, soothingly. "What do you think you
will do?"
The girl seemed dazed and for a time could not reply.
"You must have thought of this thing," suggested her new friend, "for it
was quite possible Anson Jones would not be in Leadville when you

arrived there."
"I did not dare think of it," returned Myrtle in a low, frightened tone. "I
once asked Aunt Martha what I could do in case Uncle Anson wasn't to
be found, and she said he must be found, for otherwise I would be
obliged to earn my own living."
"And she knew you to be so helpless!"
"She knows I can sew, if only I can get work to do," said the girl,
simply. "I'm not really a cripple, and I'm getting better of my hurt every
day. Aunt Martha said I would be just as well off in Denver or
Leadville as in Chicago, and made me promise, if the worst came, not
to let any charitable organization send me back to her."
"In other words," exclaimed Patsy, indignantly, "she wanted to get rid
of you, and did not care what became of you."
"She was afraid I would cost her money," admitted the poor child, with
shamed, downcast eyes.
Patsy went to the window and stood looking out for a time. Myrtle
began to dress herself. As she said, she was not utterly helpless,
moving the upper part of her body freely and being able to walk slowly
about a room by holding on to chairs or other furniture.
"I'm afraid I'm causing you a lot of worry over me," said she, smiling
sadly as Patsy turned toward her; "and that is ungrateful when I
remember how kind you have all been. Why, these hours since I met
you have seemed like fairyland. I shall treasure them as long as I live.
There must be another train to Leadville soon, and I'll take that. As
soon as I am ready I will go to the depot and wait there."
Patsy looked at her reflectively. The poor child was called upon to
solve a queer problem--one which might well have bewildered the
brain of a more experienced person.
"Tell me," she said; "why should you go to Leadville at all, now that

you have no friend or relative there to care for you?"
"My ticket is to Leadville, you know," replied Myrtle. "If I did not go I
would waste the money it cost."
Patsy laughed at this.
"You're a wonderfully impractical child," she said, deftly assisting
Myrtle to finish dressing. "What you really need is some one to order
you around and tell you what to do. So you must stop thinking about
yourself, for a time, and let us do the thinking. Here--sit in this chair by
the window. Do you want Mumbles in your lap? All right. Now gaze
upon the scenery until I come back. There's a man washing windows
across the street; watch and see if he does his work properly."
Then she went away to join a conference in Uncle John's sitting room.
Major Doyle was speaking when she entered and his voice was coldly
ironical.
"The temperature outside is six degrees above freezing," he observed.
"The clerk downstairs says the snow is nine feet deep over the
mountain trails and the wind would cut an iron beam in two. If you take
an automobile to California, John, you must put it on snowshoes and
connect it with a steam heating-plant."
Uncle John, his hands thrust deep in his pockets, paced thoughtfully up
and down the room.
"Haggerty said--"
"Didn't I give you Haggerty's record, then?" asked the Major. "If you
want the exact truth it's safe to go directly opposite to what Haggerty
says."
"He's a very decent fellow," protested Mr. Merrick, "and is considered
in the city to be strictly honest."
"But after this?"

"You can't blame him for the weather conditions here. I've been talking
with Denver people myself, this morning, and they all say it's unusual
to have such cold weather at this time of year. The thermometer hasn't