"I'm astonished that you have him here at all," he broke out.
"Why shouldn't I?" his hostess asked.
"That question," returned Thorne, "strikes me as a little superfluous, considering that he's an utterly unscrupulous, scoundrelly vampire. Still, I dare say you can forgive him a good deal for the sake of his appearance."
Mrs. Farquhar laughed.
"The last, I suppose, is after all his chief offense."
Alison saw that this shot had reached its mark by the way Thorne drew down his brows. The man, as she had heard, had a quick temper, but she was not displeased that he should obviously resent the fact that Nevis had spent half an hour in her company. Then, remembering that Winthrop was a friend of Thorne's, she felt a little guilty, and when later on they all sauntered out across the prairie, she drew him aside.
"There's something I think I should mention," she said. "I told Nevis that Miss Calvert was to have married Winthrop. He seemed unusually interested."
Thorne started and looked hard at her.
"What on earth made you do that?" he asked sharply. "Did he lead up to it?"
"No," replied Alison with some reluctance, "I don't think he did. So far as I can remember, I volunteered the information."