The Mysterious Visitor

Trixie’s turn to frown. "But that’s not possible, Di," she said. "Last year in school when each one of us was given a state to study up on, I chose Arizona, because there are so many wonderful ranches out there. You remember that, don’t you?"
    Di nodded. "You wrote a very interesting theme about it, Trixie, but what’s your theme on Arizona got to do with my Uncle Monty?"
    "Just this," Trixie said thoughtfully. "The University of Arizona, which is in Tucson, was founded in 1885. Your uncle must be an awfully old man if he had anything to do with that. And Tucson has been a boomtown, for, well, just ages."
    Jim nodded in agreement. "I’ve studied up a lot on Arizona, too, because I thought it might be the best place for my boys’ school. Tucson was the territorial capital of Arizona during the ten years between 1867 and 1877. But, you see, Trixie, Arizona didn’t become the forty-eighth state until 1912. Maybe Di’s uncle had something to do with its being admitted into the Union. Maybe that’s what he meant when he told her he practically made Arizona the great state that it is today." "Maybe," Trixie admitted dubiously. "But he couldn’t have been one of the first settlers. They were mostly all killed off by the Indians before the Revolution."
    "He said he was one of the first settlers," Diana repeated stubbornly. "Maybe he was the only one who wasn’t killed by the Indians."
    Trixie laughed. "Then Uncle Monty must be almost as old as Methuselah."
    "Well, he isn’t," Di stormed. "He’s a lot younger than my grandfather Lynch, who just had his sixtieth birthday." She glared at Trixie. "Are you trying to say that my uncle is a liar?"
    "Oh, Di," Trixie pleaded. "I’m simply trying to say that he must be so old he won’t want to come to your party." She chanted, " ‘On the eighteenth of April, in ’75; Hardly a man is now alive—’ "
    Di covered her face with her hands. "I never can remember dates, especially history dates. You’re right, Trixie. My uncle is a liar."
    "Not necessarily." Honey gently touched Di’s bare arm. "I know a little something about Arizona, too, Trixie. Summer before last Daddy and Mother and I toured the whole state in our trailer. A lot of the cities that used to be ghost towns are boomtowns now on account of the tourists and guest ranches. Tucson is famous for its climate. Almost too many people spend the winters out there. Di’s uncle could have played an important part in the real estate boom, which started not so awfully long ago. I mean, as a young man he could have bought a lot of land when it was cheap, thinking there were mines on it or something, and then, when prices skyrocketed during the years when people got the idea of building dude ranches, he could have sold it at an enormous profit."
    "I guess that’s what he was talking about," Diana said in a mollified tone of voice. "I didn’t listen very carefully after the first hour. You know, it gets kind of stupefying when one person does all the talking."
    Trixie laughed. "I can see why you’re worried about your. party now, Di. You’re afraid your uncle will mon—mon—"
    "—monopolize," Jim supplied.
    "Monopolize the conversation," Trixie finished. "But he probably has a lot of interesting stories to tell," Honey objected. "We met an old prospector in Tombstone, which used to be a ghost town, after it was first a boomtown, and the stories he told for hours on end were simply fascinating. I don’t think you have anything to worry about, Di."
    "I’d like to meet him myself," Jim added cheerfully. "He can probably give me some pointers. A ranch in Arizona near some mountains, but with plenty of desert land for long horseback rides, might be just the place for my boys’ school."
    "You’re going to meet him any minute," Di said forlornly. "He telephoned me here yesterday afternoon. I begged him not to, but he said he was going to drive out this morning and inspect the horses." Again she covered her face with her hands. "Oh, I wish he’d go back to Arizona and stay there. If Uncle Monty says you paid too much for Starlight and Susie, Regan will get mad, and —it’s all going to be so embarrassing."
    "I don’t get it," Jim said wonderingly. "Why should your uncle criticize our horses?"
    "That’s the kind of person he is," Di moaned. "He knows everything there is to know about everything. To hear him talk you’d think he was the only broncobuster that ever lived. He pretends to be very nice, but