“I want you to know it was in his interest that I came.”
“Yes, I know that,” and her face strangely softened.
“I just couldn’t refuse him, though I knew it might cost——”
“Hush,” she warned, “we must bear it,” then her eyes fell; she held her breath, and this electrical sympathy between heart and heart told her that she had betrayed herself to him.
Only a moment he hesitated, the next he laid his hand on the back of the chair she had just taken.
“Cherokee, I have a question to ask you; it is best that all should be clear between us, for I want to be your friend—want you to come to me feeling that I would protect you in all things except——”
“Except that I will allow you to advise me.”
“Then tell me, what is Willard Frost to you?” he asked, with quick breath.
“Nothing at all, I only tolerate him because Robert says he needs his influence,” she answered, solemnly.