They stared at each other, eye to eye, both plainly wishing with all
heartiness that no feminine presence hampered them.
The girl laughed.
"Coffee and pistols for two! If each other's company makes you so
impolite, I'll be compelled to separate you. Come, Mr. Harlan Thornton,
baron of Fort Canibas, you have volunteered to see me safely home."
He offered his arm, and they followed Mrs. Presson, who had already
started for the carriage. He rode with them to the station, flushed and
silent, and the girl studied his face covertly and with some curiosity.
On the train, in the first of their tete-a-tete, she sounded him
cautiously, trying to discover if his feelings toward Linton were
inspired wholly by political differences. She seemed to suspect there
was something more behind it, even at the risk of flattering herself.
But she had detected certain suggestive symptoms in the demeanor of
Harlan at the breakfast-table that morning. He did not betray himself
under her deft questioning. But he promptly grew amiable, and before the
end of their railroad ride that day she had proved to her own
satisfaction that her ability to interest young men had not been thrown
away upon him.
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