She put it down to a moodiness over the loss of her white herd and the now precarious condition of her fortune.
Several days passed, and as nothing happened, Jane's spirits began to brighten.

Once in her musings she thought that this tendency of hers to rebound was as sad as it was futile.

Meanwhile, she had resumed her walks through the grove with little Fay.
One morning she went as far as the sage.

She had not seen the slope since the beginning of the rains, and now it bloomed a rich deep purple.
There was a high wind blowing, and the sage tossed and waved and colored beautifully from light to dark.

Clouds scudded across the sky and their shadows sailed darkly down the sunny slope.
Upon her return toward the house she went by the lane to the stables, and she had scarcely entered the great open space with its corrals and sheds when she saw Lassiter hurriedly approaching.