“Katherine O’Donovan, old dear,” she said, “if we do come back for dinner, concentrate on Mr. Snow and study him. Scrutinize, Katy! It’s a bully word. Scrutinize closely. To add one more to our long lists of secrets, here’s another. He’s the man I told you about who has asked Marian to marry him, and Marian has refused him probably because she prefers somebody nearer home.”
Then Linda felt the tensing of every muscle in Katy’s body. She saw the lift of her head, the incredulous, resentful look in her eyes. There was frank hostility in her tone.
“Well, who is there nearer home that Marian knows?” she demanded belligerently.
“Well, now, who would there be?” retorted Linda.
“Ye ain’t manin’ John Gilman?” asked Katy.
“No,” said Linda, “I am not meaning John Gilman. You should know Marian well enough to know that.”
“Well, ye ought to know yourself well enough to know that they ain’t anybody else around these diggin’s that Marian Thorne’s going to get,” said Katy.
“I imagine Marian will get pretty much whom she wants,” said Linda laughingly. “In your heart, Katy, you know that Marian need not have lost John Gilman if she had not deliberately let him go. If she had been willing to meet Eileen on her own ground and to play the game with her, it wouldn’t have happened. Marian has more brains in a minute than Eileen has in a month.”
When Linda drew back the portière and stepped into the living room Eugene Snow rose to meet her. What either of them expected it might be difficult to explain. Knowing so little of each other, it is very possible that they had no visualizations. What Snow saw was what everyone saw who looked at Linda—a girl arrestingly unusual. With Linda lay the advantage by far, since she had Marian’s letters for a background. What she saw was a tall man, slender, and about him there was to Linda a strong appeal. As she looked into his eyes, she could feel the double hurt that Fate had dealt him. She thought she could fathom the fineness in his nature that had led him to made home-building his chosen occupation. Instantly she liked him. With only one look deep into his eyes she was on his side. She stretched out both her hands and advanced.
“Now isn’t this the finest thing of you?” she said. “I am so glad that you came. I’ll tell you word for word what happened here.”