Free Nevada (1995) by Zane Grey

Hettie. "She ought to live many year s yet. But we must do something to help her. Ben, I suggest yo u take her to San Francisco. Get the opinion and advice of some up- t o-date physician. Take Ina with you. Blaine will be safe wit h me. I'll run the ranch, never fear."
    "By George! it's a great idea," declared Ben, with amazin g enthusiasm. He leaped down off the corral fence, then turned t o help Hettie. "Ina will be tickled. She'll get her brother Marvi e to stay with you."
    "Ben, I actually believe you've decided already," replied Hettie , suddenly feeling radiant.
    "Reckon I have, and I'll bet you Ina squeals with joy. Let's g o tell her this minute."
    Hettie peeped through the corral fence at California Red.
    "Good-by, you beautiful, stand-off wild thing!" she cried. "Som e day some one will come and he'll tame you to eat out of my hand."
    With arms locked, Hettie and Ben hurried down the lane, eager wit h the import of new hopes, happier than they had been for a lon g time. It was Ben now who talked, while Hettie kept silent. Sh e thrilled with the consciousness that she had roused Ben from a creeping sad abstraction that had grown more noticeable of late.
    Ben not only missed his old friend, Nevada, but also the wild-horse- h unting life which had been his sole occupation for years befor e his marriage, and which had been the cause of the alienation fro m his father.
    Ina was in the yard, gathering violets, which certainly matched th e blue of her spring dress and the color of her eyes. Little Blain e babbled at sight of his father and ran as fast as his short fa t legs could carry him.
    "Well, good-mawnin', you-all!" said Ina, gayly. "Say, you loo k excited." . . . Then she kissed Hettie and continued, "Many happy , happy returns of the day."
    Ben snatched the boy up and, holding him on his arm, he confronte d Ina with a smile that held great portent.
    "How soon can you get ready for a trip to San Francisco?" he asked , quite naturally, as if he were in the habit of speaking so ever y day.
    "What! Oh, I knew something was up," she cried, the color flashin g to her beautiful face. "How soon? . . . Fifteen minutes!"
    "Ha! Ha! I thought you'd hit the saddle and ride that ide a pronto," said Ben, happily. "But you needn't be so swift as that."
    "Ben, are you really going to take me to Frisco?" asked Ina , eagerly.
    "Yes. It's all settled. But--"
    "You darling," she cried, kissing him. "I wanted to go somewhere.
    The winter has been so long, so confining. Klamath Falls was m y hope. But San Francisco! Oh!"
    "Ina, I'm sorry I don't think of such things," replied Ben , ruefully. "I guess I'd fallen into a rut. You must thank Hettie."
    Whereupon Ina most heartily embraced Hettie, and then, coming dow n to earth, she said: "Let's go in to breakfast. You can tell m e there all about this grand idea."
    "We'll tell you now," said Ben. "The trip to Frisco is on mother' s account and we mustn't discuss it before her. The fact is, Ina , mother is failing. Something wrong with her. Hettie suggested w e take her to San Francisco to see a competent physician. Blain e will be safe with Hettie and so will the ranch. What do you say , dearest?"
    "I say it's a happy and wise suggestion," returned Ina, with a no d of commendation toward Hettie. "This damp cold Tule Lake does no t agree with mother."
    The only hitch in the plans formulated by Ben and Hettie concerne d the coming of Marvie Blaine to stay at the Ide ranch. Hart Blain e would not allow his son to go.
    "That boy can't run a mowin' machine, let alone a ranch," ol d Blaine had said to Ben.
    There was trouble between Marvie and his father, for which, i n Ben's opinion, both were equally to blame.
    "Sure reminds me of my scrap with dad," remarked Ben to Hettie.
    "Only _I_ was right and dad was wrong. Marvie refused to go t o college. Reckon he's not so different from me. He likes horse s and the open country."
    "Some day Marvie will run off just as you did, Ben Ide," Hettie ha d