"Well," she said, "I have never troubled you for any favors in return."
Florence regarded her in a rather curious fashion.
"No," she admitted, "you haven't. You made no claim on me, as, perhaps, you were entitled to do, when you first came out here. In fact, I have once or twice felt slightly vexed with you because you went to Mrs. Farquhar."
Alison smiled as she remembered that her companion had not shown the least desire to prevent her doing the thing she now resented.
"Then there's a favor that I must ask at last; but first of all I'd better tell you that I'm going to marry Leslie Thorne."
"Mavy Thorne!" Florence gazed at her in open wonder. "I heard a whisper or two that seemed to point to the possibility of your doing something of the kind, but I resolutely refused to believe it."
"Why?"
Florence laughed.
"Oh, in half a dozen ways it's ludicrous. If you really mean it, you are as absurd as he is."
Alison rose with an air of quiet dignity.