Once more she wished that she might get at his brain and squeeze out his thoughts; and it never occurred to her that she would probably have found them extremely commonplace thoughts that strayed no farther than his own little personal business of life, and that they would easily be translated to the dollar sign.

His attitude was one of gloomy meditation, and her own mood supplied the subject.

She watched him for a minute or two, and his abstraction was so deep that he did not feel her presence.
"Uncle Carl, just how much did the Lazy A cost you ?" she asked so abruptly that she herself was surprised at the question.

"Or putting it another way, just how many dollars and cents did you spend in defending dad ?" Carl started, which was perfectly natural, and glared at her, which was natural also, when one considers that Jean had without warning opened a subject tacitly forbidden upon that ranch.

His eyes hardened a little while he looked at her, for between these two there was scant affection.
"What do you want to know for ?" he countered, when she persisted in looking at him as though she was waiting for an answer.
"Because I've a right to know.