"The house is remarkably well furnished," said Herrick laughing. "It is a good idea; three o'clock. We had better go at once."
The others entered into the scheme with avidity, and thus it was that Herrick found himself walking beside Bess to "The Pines." Not without a pang had he relinquished Ida to his friend; but bearing in mind the confidence reposed in him by Mrs. Marsh, he desired to act as fairly as possible. Besides he was growing fond of Bess. She was such a bright companion, and so clever. At first she was disinclined to speak of the Colonel and Frisco, but gradually became more outspoken. In his quiet way Herrick had a wonderful gift of making people talk. "I wouldn't say it to any one but you Dr. Jim," said Bess--for so she now called him, "but there is something about you that makes me believe in you. I think you must have a kind of daemonic influence like Goethe."
"I am sympathetic if that is what you mean," said Jim. "I took to you immediately I saw you in the inn parlour."
Bess blushed a little through her tanned skin, and cast a keen look at the big man. Somehow Herrick was conscious of that look, and wondered what it was for. Perhaps with a woman's quickness Bess divined that he admired Ida and did not approve of it. However she was too clever to say anything if such was the case, but went on to talk of Colonel Carr and Frisco.
"I liked Frisco," she said in her quick decisive way, "he was a bad man and some of the things he told me he had done were really dreadful; but somehow he was attractive. Much better than the Colonel."
"I thought you liked the Colonel," said Jim with a side glance.
"Well you see it was this way," replied the girl laughing. "I was rather bold in introducing myself to him, and he was so kind that I forgave him his bad reputation."
"How was it you met him?"
"I wanted some copy for the Chronicle and did not know what to write about. Something had to be done, so I kept my ears open for an idea. Ida happened to mention something about 'The Pines,' so I thought it would be nice to see all the wonderful furniture that was in the house. Would you believe it," she added lightly, "I went straight to 'The Pines' and asked to see Colonel Carr? At first he refused, but I was so persistent that he let me come in. I told him frankly what I wanted and how hard up I was for an article. He was so taken back by my assurance that he said I could describe 'The Pines,' provided I did so under a fictitious name. Then he took me all over the house himself; gave me tea in the big drawing-room and sent me off. I got a good article out of what he showed me, but of course I said that it was a description of a millionaire's palace in Park Lane. Nobody believed that. I think the Colonel guessed they wouldn't. He just let me write the article to make the people's mouths water with telling about things he would not let them see."
"A nice Christian spirit!" remarked Jim grimly. "Ah! but you must remember that he was treated very badly by the country people when he came back from America."