Page:Caroline Lockhart--The full of the Moon.djvu/233



", you forgot yoah lunch! You-all can't ride all day 'thout a snack."

Ben made a wry face underneath his horse as he reached for the latigo.

"I'll get it," he replied, but Edith ran from the house with the parcel.

"I know you hate that horrible name, Ben," Edith said apologetically, "but she's bound that she's goin' to be a mother to you and I can't stop her."

"Don't try," Ben smiled down upon her as he straightened, "you're so darned nice to me, Edie, that I could even stand 'Blessed Angel' and 'Lovie' for your sake."

His words and smile made her glow.

Life had been so different, so much happier since Ben came, even with the periods of acute suffering when he rode to Las Rubertas. But these occasions had been few, and his stay brief after they learned the urgent necessity of watchfulness; upon the range. 221