“I suppose from your daughter, Miss Lucy,” replied the young man, smiling at his confusion. “Unless,” he added hastily, “she has forgotten about me.”
“Why, Rufus Hardy!” exclaimed the judge, reaching out his hand. “Why, bless my heart––to be sure. Why, where have you been for this last year and more? I am sure your father has been quite worried about you.”
“Oh, I hope not,” answered Hardy, shifting his gaze. “I guess he knows I can take care of myself by this time––if I do write poetry,” he added, with a shade of bitterness.
“Well, well,” said the judge, diplomatically changing the subject, “Lucy will be glad to hear of you, at any rate. I believe she––er––wrote you once, some time ago, at your Berkeley address, and the letter was returned as uncalled for.”
He gazed over the rims of his glasses inquiringly, and with a suggestion of asperity, but the young man was unabashed.
“I hope you will tell Miss Lucy,” he said deferentially, “that on account of my unsettled life I have not ordered my mail forwarded for some time.” He 38 paused and for the moment seemed to be considering some further explanation; then his manner changed abruptly.
“I believe you mentioned a matter of business,” he remarked bluffly, and the judge came back to earth with a start. His mind had wandered back a year or more to the mysterious disappearance of this same self-contained young man from his father’s house, not three blocks from his own comfortable home. There had been a servant’s rumor that he had sent back a letter or two postmarked “Bowie, Arizona”––but old Colonel Hardy had said never a word.
“Er––yes,” he assented absently, “but––well, I declare,” he exclaimed helplessly, “I’ve quite forgotten what it was about.”
“Won’t you sit down, then?” suggested Hardy, indicating the edge of the board walk with a courtly sweep of the hand. “This rain will make good feed for you up around the Four Peaks––I believe it was of your ranch there that you wished to speak.”
Judge Ware settled down against a convenient post and caught his breath, meanwhile regarding his companion curiously.