304 FROM THE WEST TO THfe WEST
but he is not in bodily danger, and he will not die. I do not understand it clearly, for I saw conditions only as through a glass, darkly. I would have remained in that state of seeming torpor for a whole month if it had been possible, for my mind and body were in different places. But in spite of myself I am again in a normal condition."
"I shall be able to devote two weeks' work to the erection of that combined schoolhouse and meeting-house," said Mary's husband. "Can't you wait, sister, to begin your school till then?"
"No, Mr. Buckingham. You are very kind, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart, but I cannot wait. There will be time enough for you to take the reins when I am gone, Mr. Rogers."
During the remainder of the week she performed prodigies of labor, but the work lagged at the mess-house. The new cook was not a success, and there was much dissatisfaction among the workingmen. But the Chinaman learned his lessons rapidly under the guidance of the Ranger sisters, and was soon able to load the long tables with plain but savory food.
The storm left the face of Nature fresh and green and joyous, and Mr. Burns and the Little Doctor repaired to the woods and foot-hills for their honeymoon, after all.
Jean's complexion grew more delicately beautiful, her form more and more symmetrical, and her eyes sparkled like stars. But her girlish exuberance of spirit was gone, and in its place had come a womanly dignity, commanding, gracious, and sweet. The departure of Mary and her husband, with Marjorie, added heavily to Jean's duties as superintendent of the Sunday-school. But her spirit craved work; so she opened a singing-school and a metrical geography class.
"Still no tidings!" she cried to herself, after an unusually strenuous day. "But I will not despair, and I will do my duty though the heavens fall. The whole of this month's salary goes to Grandpa and Grandma Ranger.
