"Yes. Have you noticed how good the water is?"
"I was just coming for a drink when you startled me. I didn't see you."
"Allow me," said Rufus, picking up the half cocoanut shell which was chained to the wood. "Let's make a loving-cup of it. I'm thirsty, too."
He held the cup while Pete pumped the water over it, and finally shaking off the clinging drops offered it to the guest.
Geraldine made good her words. An inward fever of excitement was burning in her veins. The proximity of this man caused her always the same panic. Oh, what was meant by those written words of the sunny-eyed, upstanding young knight who had obeyed her so reluctantly? Now it was her turn to obey him, and she must see to it that no suspicion of Carder's should prevent her.
When she had drunk every drop, Rufus took a few sips—he had not much use for water—and they returned to the house together.
When Mrs. Carder and Pete had sent the hired men afield, the three sat down to breakfast as usual, and Rufus, moved by the guest's transparent appearance and downcast eyes, played unconsciously into her hands.
"This is great weather, Geraldine," he said. "You don't want to mope in the house. You want to spend a lot o' time outdoors. I'll take you out driving whenever you want to go."
Geraldine lifted her eyes to his—the eyes with the drooping, pensive corners deepened by dark lashes which Miss Upton had tried to describe.
"I think I'm not feeling very strong, Mr. Carder," she said listlessly. "Long drives tire me."