"Oh, nothing," said Toby, with a rather wistful little laugh.
"Let's have it!" said Jake.
Her hand lay in his, and this time she left it there. Her blue eyes met his courageously. "Only that I'd met you before," she said.
"Before when?" said Jake. "Before you met Saltash?"
"Oh no!" Very swiftly, she answered him. "Oh no! Lord Saltash is among the kings. I'd have been dead by now but for him!" Her eyes kindled as with a sudden glowing memory, she flushed like an eager child. "You know him?" she said. "Isn't he—isn't he—fine?"
She spoke with reverence, even with a certain awe. The man's face changed a little, hardening almost imperceptibly.
"Guess he's no great hero of mine," he said. "But maybe he has his points."
"He has!" Toby assured him with fervor. "You don't know him like I do.
He's a—he's a masterpiece."
"That so?" said Jake.
Perhaps Toby felt a lack of sympathy in his tone; she quitted the subject abruptly. "No, that wasn't what I meant. I only wish I'd met you long ago—years and years ago—when you were a cow-boy."