"Well, I guess I thought if you still wanted to quit, Ed's coming would be kind of useful."
Nora sat down in one of the chairs and gave him a long level look.
"What makes you think that I want to?" she said quietly.
"You ain't been so very talkative these last months, but I guess it wasn't so hard to see sometimes that you'd have given pretty near anything in the world to quit."
"I've no intention of going back to Eddie's farm, if that's what you mean."
To this he made no reply. Still with the same grave air, he went over to the door and started out again, pausing a moment after he had crossed the threshold.
"If Ed comes before I get back, tell him I won't be long. I guess you won't be sorry to do a bit of yarning with him all by yourself."
"You are not going away with the idea that I'm going to say beastly things to him about you, are you?"
"No, I guess not. That ain't your sort. Perhaps we don't know the best of one another yet, but I reckon we know the worst by this time."
"Frank!" she said sharply. "There's something the matter. What is it?"