Thorne straightened himself in his chair.
"It won't be an experiment. If I take hold, which isn't quite certain yet, I'll stay with the thing."
Then he broke into his usual careless laugh.
"I'll take a long drive round all the outlying settlements and work off a last frolic first."
"Yes," observed his hostess, "the carnival before Lent."
After that she proceeded to lay out dinner and they let the subject drop, but Alison, who entered the room just then, wondered why Mrs. Farquhar flashed a searching glance at her.
CHAPTER VII
A USEFUL FRIEND
Thorne drove away after dinner and, for it must be admitted that he preferred other people's cookery to his own, he contrived to reach the Hunter homestead just as supper was being laid out one evening some days later. During the meal he announced his intention of staying all night, but he did not explain what had brought him there until he sat with his host and hostess on the veranda while dusk crept up across the prairie. He felt inclined to wonder why Mrs. Hunter had favored them with her company, for he supposed that it was not altogether for the sake of enjoying the cool evening air. This surmise, as it happened, was quite correct. She had another purpose in her mind, for since Alison's visit she had taken a certain interest in the man.
"Is there anything keeping you about the bluff?" she asked at length. "I hear you have been in the neighborhood several days."