He hesitated, looked disconcerted.
"Oh, if you don't want me," laughed she.
"Indeed I do," he hastened to say. "Only—usually you don't."
They went out together, walked up and down the wide retaining wall of the lake, beyond the Smoke House. Presently Helen appeared, on her way to the apartment over the laboratory. Now that she had charge of the housekeeping, it was part of her duties to look at the apartment and see that Lizzie was keeping things clean and was making Gallatin comfortable. At sight of Basil and Courtney, she stopped short, colored painfully. She answered their greetings with embarrassment, went with awkward haste in at the apartment entrance.
"Helen's extremely shy," said Courtney.
"She is difficult to get acquainted with," replied Basil. His manner might have been either absent or constrained.
"I'm afraid I haven't given you much chance," said Courtney, merely by way of saying something.
"Oh, I know her pretty well," Basil hastened to protest. "There's a lot more to her than one sees at first."
"Indeed there is," said Courtney, warmly. "I've grown very fond of her—fonder than I ever thought I could be of another woman. I don't care much for women. They're so small toward each other—because they're all brought up to be cutthroat rivals in the same low business—husband-catching. But Helen isn't a bit small. She has a real heart."
"And real intellect, too."