"Then I must ask exactly what kind of interest you took in the man, and how far your acquaintance with him went?"
Florence's face burned, but she roused herself to answer him.
"He was amusing," she said slowly, picking her words. "He came here once or twice when you were out, and on a few occasions I met him by accident on the prairie and at the settlement. I suppose I was—pleasant—to him, but nobody could have called it more than that. Then there was a change in his attitude."
"It was to be expected," Hunter interposed dryly. "Do you wish me to understand that you were astonished?"
Florence rose and turned on him with hot anger in her eyes.
"Yes!" she exclaimed, "I was astonished and—you must believe it—horribly mortified! He tried to make me feel that I was in his power!"
She paused and clenched one hand tight before she cried:
"What can I do to convince you? I hate the man! I want you to crush and humble him!"
Hunter greeted this outbreak with a smile, but he made no answer; and growing calmer in a few moments she looked at him again.
"What are you going to do about it, Elcot?" she asked.