"Yes," said Ordway, with an effort, "he's the handsome chap who came here last June, isn't he?"
"Oh, he's handsome enough," admitted Banks, and he groaned out presently. "You liked him, didn't you?"
Ordway smiled slightly as he met the desperation in the other's look.
"I like him," he answered quietly, "as much as I like a toad."
CHAPTER VI
In Which Baxter Plots
WHEN Baxter reached the warehouse the following morning, he found Major Leary pacing restlessly back and forth under the brick archway, with the regular military step at which, during the four years' war, he had marched into battle.
"Come in, sir, come in and sit down," said Baxter, leading the way into his office, and sweeping a pile of newspapers from an armchair with a hospitable gesture.
"Have you seen Smith? and is he all right?" were the Major's first words, as he placed his hat upon the table and took a quick, impatient turn about the room before throwing himself into the chair which the other had emptied. He was a short, erect, nervous man, with a fiery face, a pair of small gray eyes, like steel points, and a long white moustache, discoloured where it overhung his mouth by the faint yellow stain of tobacco.
"Oh, I've see him," answered Baxter in a soothing voice, "but he won't run—there's no use talking. He's dead set against it."
"Won't run?" cried the Major, furiously. "Nonsense, sir, he must run. There's no help for it. Did you tell him that we'd decided that he should run?"