There was something permanent-looking about a well and he chuckled as he speculated as to what Canby would say when he heard of it, and he wished with all his heart that he might be around when Helene Spenceley learned that he was sinking a well on his place for household and stock purposes.
He had taken advantage of the opportunity which the gift of the cake presented to send her a note of thanks and appreciation. In reply he had received an invitation which had stung him worse than if she had written that she never wanted to see him cross her threshold.
His eyes gleamed every time he read it, which was so often that it was worn through the creases from being folded and unfolded: Dear "Gentle Annie": Won't you stop at the ranch on your way out and pay us a visit? I presume the middle of the summer at latest will see the last of you as I have no idea that you will be able to go through the discouragements and hardships attendant upon proving up on a homestead.
My brother also will enjoy meeting you as he has heard so much of you.
Looking for you soon, I am Sincerely, HELENE SPENCELEY.
P.S. I have a new sweater pattern that I am sure will please you.
Every word had a nettle in it, a taunt that made him tingle. It seemed to Wallie he had never known such a "catty" woman, and he meant to tell her so, some day, when he was rich and successful and had proved how wrong she was in her estimate of him.
He was tempted to send her word, on a postal, anonymously, of the well he was digging if he had not feared she would suspect him. It seemed so long to wait for Pinkey to convey the tidings.
Rufus arrived on Monday morning, and the "crew" to which he had referred proved to be members of his own family--John and Will--whales as to size, and clownish.
It came to Wallie's mind that if they did not move any faster when they worked than when they were at leisure, the well-digging would be a long process, and his heart sank when he saw them feeding their horses so liberally from the hay which had cost $20 a ton, delivered.
The first intimation Wallie had of what he had let himself in for was when Rufus asked in a confidential tone, as if he were imparting something for Wallie's ear only: "I wonder if we could get a bite to eat before we start in? We eat so early this morning that I don't feel as if I had had anything."