“He gets married.”
“Oh, indeed!” Jessie blushed a little. “And then I suppose he goes off and leaves his wife behind and forgets all about her.”
“Does he? Not so as you can notice it! He takes his wife with him––that is, provided she will go.”
“Oh, the idea!” and now, as Dave looked her steadily in the eyes, Jessie blushed more than ever.
Where this conversation would have ended it is impossible to say, but at that moment Laura interrupted the pair, followed by Ben; and then the talk became general as the four sat down to dinner.
The horses had been put up in a stable connected with the restaurant, and after the meal it was Dave who went out to get them and bring them around to the front of the place. He was just driving to the street when his glance fell upon a person standing in the glare of an electric light. The person had his face turned full toward our hero, so that Dave got a good look at him.
“Ward Porton!” cried the youth in astonishment. “How in the world did that fellow get here, and what is he doing?”
Like a flash the memory of the past came over Dave––how Ward Porton had tried to pass himself off as the real Dave Porter and thus relegate Dave himself back to the ranks of the “nobodies.”
Dave was crossing the sidewalk at the time, but as soon as he had the team and the sleigh in the street he jumped out and made his way towards the other youth.