"Ah!" His tone was that of a cross-examiner dragging the truth from an unwilling witness. He put his questions rapidly and sharply, as though at a Court-martial. "So you'd known him before! Did you know him well?"
"I didn't think it was well; but apparently he did, because he asked me to marry him."
Ashley bounded. "Who? That—that cowboy!"
"Yes; if he is a cowboy."
"And you took money from him?"
Her elbows rested on the arm of her chair; the tip of her chin on the back of her bent fingers. Without taking her eyes from his she inclined her head slowly in assent.
"That is," he hastened to say, in some compunction, "your father took it. We must keep the distinction—"
"No; I took it. Papa was all ready to decline it. He had made up his mind—"
"Do you mean that the decision to accept it rested with you?"
"Practically."