“I hoped you would be able to tell me something about him,” she added.
“I do not know where he is,” he replied, “but I am positive that you have no occasion to feel anxious about him. I am quite sure he will return, perhaps before long. I assure you, if anything should happen to him, I should know it before any one else.”
He spoke with such sincerity that her lingering distrust faded away, while his abundant physical vigor, manifest alike in his appearance and his manner, made a strong appeal to her feminine nature. He seemed so full of energetic purpose, and he looked at her with such a self-assured, straightforward gaze that she could no longer withhold the confidence she felt him to be demanding. Nor did the fact that her woman’s instinct, quickly discovering the scarcely concealed admiration in his eyes and countenance, told her the reason for his visit lessen her inclination to give him the trust he desired.
“Do you think,” she anxiously asked, “that I ought to report Mr. Brand’s disappearance to the police?”
“No,” he said with abrupt positiveness, “I do not.”
Then he seemed to take second thought and purposely to soften his manner as he proceeded: “When he returns do you think he would be pleased to learn that another hullaballoo had been made over his absence, doubtless on necessary business?”
“Oh, no, I am sure he would not! He didn’t like it at all the other time. It was only—I feel so much responsibility—and I am so uncertain as to what I ought to do. I am not letting anybody know”—she hesitated and blushed—“except you, that I don’t really know where he is. I thought it was what he would wish if—if he is on a business trip—in West Virginia—or anywhere. But if anything has happened—should happen—to him——”
“Don’t feel anxious on that score. I shall be the first one to know if any harm comes to him, and I give you my word that you shall be informed as soon as possible. I came in to give you this assurance, as I feared you would be worried by his long absence.”
Henrietta was surprised when her visitor left to find that their conversation had lasted for half an hour. “It didn’t seem so long,” she thought, smiling in the pleasant glow that still enveloped her consciousness.
“I hope I didn’t say anything I ought not,” her thought ran on, with just a tinge of anxiety. “He is such a compelling sort of man, you have to trust him, and he’s so blunt and direct himself that before you know it you are being just as frank as he is.”