“I think it can be done. Will you let me try?”
He considered in his ponderous way. Then he turned without a word and walked away. He proceeded half a dozen steps and then halted. “Yes,” he said, over his shoulder, and continued on his way.
CHAPTER XVII
CARMEL walked back rapidly, but her pace did not interfere with the activities of her mind. She had many things to reflect upon, and not the least of these was a sudden realization that Evan Bartholomew Pell had, of a sudden, as it were, taken command. It was he, rather than herself, who had risen to the emergency. He had seen the necessities of the situation. He had comprehended the situation itself as she had never done. While she had been obeying impulse he had been acting intelligently. It was true he seemed to have little tangible evidence to work upon, but, somehow, she felt he would be able to find it. The amazing thing was that, without effort, without seeming to do so, he had moved her into secondary place. He had told her what to do, and she had done it without question.... Evan was a surprising person, a person of submerged potentialities. She wondered just what kind of man he would be if he ever came to himself and came into his own personality. In addition to which, Carmel, like all other women, could not but give careful consideration to a man who had declared his love for her.
Then there was Jared Whitefield to appraise. She liked him, but found herself somewhat in awe of his granite impassivity. She felt he had looked through and through her, while she had not been able to penetrate the surface of him. She had talked; he had listened. He had made his decision, and wholly without reference to herself, or to what she had said to him. But, on the other hand, he seemed to have washed his hands of the responsibility for his appointment as sheriff. If it could be managed—well and good. He would serve. But that seemed to be all. He offered no assistance, no suggestion. He had said “Yes” and walked out of the boundaries of the matter.
Jared Whitefield was a personality, of that she was certain. He was a man to impress men, a man to rule, a man never to be overlooked.... Why, she wondered, had he remained inactive in Gibeon. Apparently he had rested like a block of granite beside a busy thoroughfare, negligent of the bustle of passing traffic. What, she wondered, did Gibeon think of Jared. How would he appeal to Gibeon as its candidate for sheriff?
She reached the office and found Evan Pell waiting for her.
“Well?” he said.
“I’ve found the man, and he has agreed to serve.”
“What man?”