"I don't mean he's here. But you've seen him, haven't you?"
"Oh yes, but only at a distance. Have you?"
"Quite near enough. He's like a Spaniard, or some kind of foreigner, and goes about looking as if he owned the earth."
"Well, he does own a good slice of it, and as to his looks, he's very much like all the rest of the Ganos except Val."
Julia had put great pressure upon herself not to rush over at once and make the new-comer's acquaintance. But there was a general feeling that, however much one naturally yearned to meet the attractive stranger, Mrs. Gano's house was not the place that one could run in and out of without invitation. Julia's patience was rewarded by the bidding to supper, to which she had responded by the suggestion of tennis.
Her presence made a great difference in the family evening at the Fort.
John Gano's form of contribution to the entertainment of his guest was to play chess with him after supper, or else engage him in conversation on the subject of State Rights versus Centralization. Several nights of such frivolity had satisfied Ethan.
"I hear that you play," he said to Julia Otway, as they came out from supper.
She, nothing loath, and seeming magnetized into forgetfulness of her usual restraint in Mrs. Gano's presence, followed him to the piano.
"Locked. Where's the key?" Ethan asked.