style="font-size:15px;"> "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 been so low in the past twenty-six years, the natives say."
"Are they all named Haggerty?" asked the Major, scornfully.
"If you will kindly allow me to speak, and tell you what Haggerty said," remarked Uncle John tersely, "I shall be able to add to your information."
"Go ahead, then."
"Haggerty said that in case we ran into cold weather in Denver, which was possible – "
"Quite possible!"
"Then we had best go south to Santa Fe and take the route of the old Santa Fe Trail as far as Albuquerque, or even to El Paso. Either way we will be sure to find fine weather, and good roads into California."
"So Haggerty says."
"It stands to reason," continued Mr. Merrick, "that on the Southern route we will escape the severe weather. So I have decided to adopt that plan."
"I think you are quite wise in that," broke in Patsy, before her father could object.
"All those queer Spanish names sound interesting," said Beth. "When do we start, Uncle?"
"In a day or two. I have some things here to attend to that may delay us that long. But when once we are started southward we shall bowl along right merrily."
"Unless we run into more snowstorms." Of course it was the Major who said that, and pointedly ignoring the remark Uncle John turned to Patsy and said:
"How did you find Myrtle Dean this morning?"
"She is rested, and seems very bright and cheerful, Uncle; but of course she is much distressed by the news that her Uncle Anson has vanished from Leadville. Yet she thinks she will continue her journey by the next train, as she has paid for her ticket and can't afford to waste the money."
"It would be absurd for the child to go to Leadville on that account.
A mining camp is no place for such a frail thing," returned Mr.
Merrick. "What would you suggest, Patsy?"
"Really, Uncle John, I don't know what to suggest."
"She can never earn her living by sewing," declared Beth. "What she ought to have is a trained nurse and careful attention."
"I'll have a doctor up to look her over," said Uncle John, in his decisive way. He was a mild little man generally, but when he made up his mind to do a thing it was useless to argue with him. Even Major Doyle knew that; but the old soldier was so fond of arguing for the sake of argument, and so accustomed to oppose his wealthy brother-in-law – whom he loved dearly just the same – that he was willing to accept defeat rather than permit Mr. Merrick to act without protest.
CHAPTER IV
AN INTERESTING PROTÉGÉ
A young physician was appointed by the management to attend any guest who might require his services, and Uncle John had a talk with him and sent him to Myrtle's room to give her a thorough examination. This he did, and reported that the girl's present condition was due largely to mismanagement of her case at the time she was injured. With care she would get better and stronger rapidly, but the hip joint was out of its socket and only a skillful operation would serve to permanently relieve her of lameness.
"What she needs just now," continued the doctor, "is a pair of crutches, so she can
