“Oh, I have several days here. I'm staying at the Reeves's. Do you know them?”
“No,” returned the lady, trying to conceal that this was a blow.
“It is Mr. Reeves with whom I am going into business, and we are doing some preliminary work. I shall see Eloise soon. Remember me to her.”
“Yes, certainly,” replied Mrs. Evringham. She kept a stiff upper lip until she was alone, and then a troubled line grew in her forehead.
“It will be all right, of course, if things are settled,” she thought. “I can scarcely wait for Eloise to come home.”
Jewel had come from the barn straight to her room, where she thought upon her problem with the aids she loved.
At last she went downstairs to a side door to watch for Zeke as he drove from the barn on his way to the station to meet Mr. Evringham. As the horse walked out of the barn she emerged and intercepted the coachman.
Mrs. Forbes at a window saw Zeke stop. She wondered what Jewel was saying to him, wondered with a humble gratitude novel to her dominating nature.
“Wait one minute, Zeke,” said the child. “I've been wondering whether I ought to say anything to grandpa.”
“If you do I'll lose my place,” returned the young fellow; “and I've never done wrong by the horses yet.”