Three long, lonesome weeks had passed for Laura Mae at her Aunt's home. Scarcely an hour of all that time had gone by without her thoughts being of Gene and of the short happy day they had spent together in Kingsford. How she yearned for him and for another rapturous moment in his strong, caressing arms. Now she was riding on the train again, this time returning to her home, leaving behind her the stately grandeur of Pike's Peak and the city of Denver with its beautiful parks and museums that her aunt had taken her to visit. She knew that she would not see her lover when she reached Oakdale, but she was sure she would soon begin to receive letters from him, and that would be much better than being where she could not communicate with him at all.

She sat looking out the window after the train left Denver and watched verdant pastures with cattle grazing, she supposed they were dairy herds. Here and there were patches of maple and locust trees. It seemed to her that the train was standing still and that it was the scenery that was steadily gliding past it. Gradually, the view changed from the lovely green to the bluish gray of endless acres of sagebrush land as the miles passed, going west. She waited with anxiety to again reach the Royal Gorge, where she would look out of the open window and see the beautiful waterfall and watch the tiny silvery streams finding their way the mountainside.

A colored man, so clean his face shone, came through the car with a tray of neatly wrapped sandwiches and empty cups in his one hand, in his other hand was the handle of a steaming coffee pot. The odor of the coffee gave Laura Mae a sudden feeling of hunger and she remembered the box of lunch her aunt had so carefully packed for her. She removed the lid and the top covering of wax paper to find a tempting assortment of fruits and sandwiches, there were ripe olives and sweet pickles too. Aunt Laura May was a dear, for all her old-maidish notions.

The girl nibbled at a sandwich and looked far out across the desert, trying hard to imagine that she was again seated in the luxurious café in Kingsford with Gene near enough that she could reach out across the snow white table with its sparkling goblets and shining silver, and find his warm friendly hand. When she came back to reality after her sojourn to the land of dreams, she managed to eat a second sandwich, then a mellow banana, but that was all. She was not very hungry after all, so she replaced the lid on the box and set it away, perhaps later she would like eating more. She reached for her purse and took from it a letter from her mother. For the fifth time since she had received it in Denver, she opened it to read it again.

"Laura Mae, my dear little girl

Martha has given up her summer school and has come back home, she is planning to leave next week to join the Red Cross Workers. If you want to see your sister before she goes, and I am sure you do, you must come home at once.

Gene and Erick Johnson have both gone to war. Philip Dreyer has been made Post Master of Oakdale. He regrets that he cannot go into the army.

I am anxious to see you; I miss you so much when you are away from home. Give our love to Aunt Laura May and explain to her why it is we want you to come now. Perhaps she could arrange to come with you. There is not much news of interest. I hope to see you soon.

Your loving Mother

P.S. Your Father is enclosing the money for your ticket."

The doctor had advised Aunt Laura May again to remain quietly at home, so the girl was returning alone. "Auntie will worry herself to death if this old war doesn't soon end," Laura Mae thought. "She can't even sleep at night for worrying about the reports she reads. If her husband or son were in the war, she might have something to worry about. I wonder where Gene is now..."

At last, the weary hours passed and the train reached Oakdale. Eli Porter was at the station. As he stepped forward to meet Laura Mae, obvious triumph shone in his face. Gene was safely out of the way for a while and he had apparently won a decisive victory over the young couple. He kissed Laura Mae more tenderly than he had ever done in all her life, then helped her up into the buggy. The girl tried hard to conceal the real feeling she had for her father, a feeling of contempt. He had called her lover an infernal whelp for no reason at all and she was not ready to forgive him.

"Just how was your Aunt, my dear?" he asked in a mild tone, as the buggy rattled down the road toward home.

"She is the same as she ever was only more fidgety and very nervous."

Laura Mae answered without looking at her father, her face was sober and she was looking at the road ahead.

"Nervous, well, well, what should make her nervous?" Eli eyed his daughter closely all the while.

"It is the newspaper account of the war that seems to affect her most, every time she sees a long casualty list she nearly goes into hysterics."

"Humph, she would be wise to save the money she spends on newspapers and not read about the war. What does she do to keep busy?"

"She sits and knits by the hour, making sweaters and socks for the soldiers."

"Knits, eh? Did she teach you to knit while you were there?" he asked with a congenial grin.

"I already knew how we had to learn how to knit in Domestic Art class in high school."

"Fine, fine, I had never noticed you knitting any, but, of course, you never had much time with all your school studying to so."

Laura Mae had never seen her father so nice to her, she was sure he must have a guilty conscious and was trying to make up for the way he wronged her, or else he had some new plan that he was sure she would resent. He could be as nice as he pleased but she would never forgive him until he acknowledged that Gene was a fine, honest, fellow, worthy to be his son-in law. She would like to see her father get down on his bended knees and ask Gene's forgiveness for acting like he had when Gene had never harmed him.

"Laura Mae, you should see how fine our new young Post Master looks in the Office, with his handsome smile ready for everybody that comes in." Eli paused as if expecting an answer. "Mama told you in the letter, didn't she, that Philip is now Post Master?"

"Yes, I know he is," she answered briefly. He did not need to try again to force Phil Dreyer on to her; she would not have him near her. Eli thought perhaps she had better not say too much about Philip until Laura Mae learned to like the boy better, she had not had time to forget about Gene yet, he was cautious and remained silent the rest of the way home. Laura Mae welcomed his silence, the green fields and willows looked better when he was not talking, she noticed that many of the flowers that were in full bloom along the road when he went away were all through blooming until another year.