Alton laughed softly. "I don't care ten cents about your feelings, Jack," he said. "The girl and the old man might like the things, and there's no reason they should know where you got them."
The other man also laughed. "You ride straight home, Harry, before you make it worse," said he. "One might figure that you'd mixed things up enough already."
Alton turned away, and found Seaforth awaiting him. They mounted, and Alton rode in silence until when they were climbing out of the valley he said, "I wonder, Charley, if there's a man in the Dominion who feels as mean as I do."
Seaforth smiled curiously, and there was bitterness in his voice which Alton was too disturbed to notice. "I think there is," he said. "You haven't asked what kept me, but you will see if you look at the horse's knees. It's a little difficult to understand why he must get his foot in a hole to-day."
It was late that night when they reached Somasco, but Alton found Miss Deringham upon the verandah, and she glanced at him with very pretty sympathy. Still, Seaforth fancied that she seemed a trifle anxious.
"Have you seen the man who brought the message?" she said.
"I have," said Alton. "You were right, of course. He'd had too much whisky."
The girl appeared, so Seaforth fancied, curiously relieved. "I was almost afraid you might think I was in some respects to blame," she said.
"No," said Alton simply, "That was one of the things I couldn't do. It was right out of the question."
He went in, and the warm colour crept into Miss Deringham's face as she presently followed him.