“She would rather talk to Ling than to me—at least, she seems far more friendly to any one else than to me.”
“Say, she must be loony not to like you!”
Ralston could not help laughing outright at Babe’s vigorous loyalty.
“It’s not necessarily a sign of insanity to dislike me.”
“She doesn’t go that far, does she?” demanded Babe.
“Sometimes I think so.”
“You don’t care a-tall, do you?”
“Yes,” Ralston replied quietly; “I care a great deal. It hurts me more than I ever was hurt before; because, you see, Babe, I never loved a woman before.”
“Aw-w-w,” replied Babe, in deepest sympathy.
Smith had congratulated himself often during the day upon the fact that he could not have chosen a more propitious time for the execution of his plans—at least, so far as the Bar C outfit was concerned. His uneasiness passed as the protecting darkness fell without their having seen a single person the entire day.