“Yes, I think she does,” said Jane. “We’ve been in camp a week. I started with Challón four days ago. He said he had lost the trail, and I gave it up. This morning—I can see it all now. Father—and Nellie started me off themselves at sunrise. They knew I’d come here and——”
She stopped and took him abruptly by the arm. “Phil! Those wicked people had even fixed the day and hour of our meeting.”
He nodded.
“Of course! I wanted to come yesterday, but they wouldn’t let me. If I had—I should have missed you.”
“Oh—how terrible!”
Her accents were so genuine, her face so distressed at this possibility, that he laughed and caught her in his arms again.
“But I didn’t miss you, Jane. That’s the point. Even if I had, Nellie would have managed somehow. She’s an extraordinary woman.”
“She is, Phil. She chaperoned me until Coley was at the point of exasperation.”
“Quite right of her, too.”
“But why has she taken such an interest in you—in us?”